{"product_id":"smiting-the-bear-stewart-hennessey-9781492893738","title":"Smiting the Bear: The Last Stand of Comrade Fox","description":"Known in his day as a spy, art thief, forger, womaniser and gambler, Archibald Brinsley Fox was an unlikely witness to the barbarous Civil War which claimed ten million lives in the wake of the Russian Revolution. Smiting the Bear is the journal of his extraordinary adventures in the wasteland of 1920-21 when the War climaxed with the near-demise of Russia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFox had remained in Russia long after the other Revolutionary tourists fled; determined to steal a Fabergé Egg and seduce Lenin's erstwhile mistress, Inessa Armand. Alas, a meeting with Armand, by then the most powerful woman in Revolutionary Russia, propels him into a deadly skirmish and on to the ghost cities of Moscow and Petrograd; haunted by hunger, gangsters, Cheka (secret police), rapists, corrupt apparatchiks, disease and the 'besprizornye'; wild orphans (roughly seven million by the 1920s) who roam the streets in packs mugging and murdering, sometimes just for kicks. Naturally, desperate women abound too, a particular danger for venal Fox. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFleeing into the heartland of rural Russia, he is badgered into a peasant militia, compelled to partake in cannibalism and forced to attend elaborate tortures openly celebrated by an entire village. Fox also bears witness to commonplace horrors and historical events that were shrouded in mystery until the secret Soviet archives were opened to historians in the 1990s; confirming the veracity of Fox's shocking account. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA perpetual turncoat not overly burdened with morals, Fox is on thin ice from the outset. And it duly cracks for the final time when he stumbles into the last great uprising against the Communist Dictatorship: the famous Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921. He knows it can only end in tears but, alas, he has no way out. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Hennessey's first novel, Drowning in the Shallows, a contemporary satire published by Headline (Hodder and Stoughton) and a commercial success in the author's native Scotland: -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"... a terrific story... one of the funniest, sharpest debuts of the year - dry, witty and cynical as hell.\"\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eThe Big Issue\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"From the crackling start to the end of this debut novel the wit and pace are relentless and magnetic... the sexual swagger which underpins it all gives it style and presence.\"\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eScotland on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Brilliant, intelligent and consuming writer... things ebb and flow through a series of exquisite interior monologues while his control of pace and tone are remarkably mature.\"\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eThe List\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An unflinching, brilliantly observed debut novel of love and sex.\"\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003ePublishing News\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"... writes with tremendous energy and delivers excellent lines, supporting the manic comedy... Hennessey tells it with style.\"\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eSunday Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Stewart Hennessey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1492893730\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781492893738\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Createspace Independent Publishing Platform\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 298\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.97lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.67d","brand":"Stewart Hennessey","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46431365267711,"sku":"9781492893738","price":13.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6870b42b-b79f-487a-931f-c3fb742be359.jpg?v=1735141104","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/smiting-the-bear-stewart-hennessey-9781492893738","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}