Lenin's Harem

Latvia, 1905. Amidst the ashes of the failed workers' rebellions of 1905, Latvian aristocrat Wiktor Rooks finds that he has lost everything: home and heritage, his life's very purpose. Coerced into the Russian Army, Wiktor is soon swept up into the turbulent years of the Great War and Bolshevik Revolution. In the service of his enemies, he finds himself torn between the noble classes of his birth and his new communist masters, between calls for freedom on Baltic shores and waves of oppression radiating from Moscow's centre. By a twist of fate, he becomes a member of the elite Red Riflemen of the Revolution, a regiment nicknamed "Lenin's Harem" for their absolute loyalty to the cause. Wiktor adapts to his situation by hiding his aristocratic past. He finds friendship amongst the soldiers and love with a communist girl. When the wars end, he returns to his homeland a different man. But betrayals await in Riga and Stalin's soldiers are soon knocking on the midnight door...Set in Russia and Latvia between 1905 and 1941, 'Lenin's Harem' is a story of nationhood, brotherhood and love throughout the most turbulent years of the twentieth century. The novel explores identity in a time of changing loyalties, and the search for a just struggle when all causes are tainted by bloodshed and betrayal.

About the Author :
William Burton McCormick was born in Maryland and grew up in Nevada. He has lived in seven countries including Latvia and Russia where he researched and wrote Lenin's Harem. William graduated from Brown University with degrees in Ancient Studies and Computer Science and earned an MA in Novel Writing from the University of Manchester. He has won awards in the production of computer games and educational software, co-owned a company to reduce junk e-mail, and worked as an executive recruiter in the Washington D.C. area. He also studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. William's short fiction has appeared in "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine" and is forthcoming in the anthology "Committed" (MMIP Books).

Review :
"Born to an aristocratic life of wealth and privilege, but driven from the family home by resentful Latvian peasants, a young German struggles to survive and protect his love from the brutalities of a domineering brother, class struggle, war, and communist rule. The attention to historical detail and depth of introspection are worthy of Pasternak or Solzhenitsyn. Enthralling, reads as true as my grandfather's letters." Daniel Wagner, former Dean of the CIA's Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis "Born to an aristocratic life of wealth and privilege, but driven from the family home by resentful Latvian peasants, a young German struggles to survive and protect his love from the brutalities of a domineering brother, class struggle, war, and communist rule. The attention to historical detail and depth of introspection are worthy of Pasternak or Solzhenitsyn. Enthralling, reads as true as my grandfather's letters." Daniel Wagner, former Dean of the CIA's Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis "William Burton McCormick vividly depicts the tragedies of the 20th century through eyes of a single Latvian Rifleman. With Wiktor Rooks, we witness the destruction of traditional society and its seemingly conservative values, to be replaced with new social, political and national ideas, innovations all ultimately perverted to hell by their adherents. The novel considers the eternal problems of humanity as cast through the dark prism of actual historical events. " Professor Kaspars Klavins, Riga Technical University and Fellow, Royal Society of Arts (UK) "William Burton McCormick takes us right inside lives that would otherwise be not simply invisible to us but unimaginable." Suzannah Dunn, author of The Confession of Katherine Howard "An engrossing and well managed piece of writing, chronicling a fascinating and turbulent period of Russian and Latvian history while never once losing sight of the need to drive the narrative through the personal tale of its hero, Wiktor Rooks." Martyn Bedford, Costa shortlisted author of Flip