The Russian Revolution was a complex and long-lasting civil war that I could only scratch the surface of, but I hope through Zivon, Evgeni, and Nadya that I captured just a piece of the Russian heart. I got lost for hours, trying to determine what would have happened to the embassy staff stranded abroad after the February and October Revolutions—Konstantin Nabokov was indeed the ambassador assigned to London at the time, and he wrote a memoir called The Ordeal of a Diplomat that tells of his experiences during this trying time. I also found a wonderful little pamphlet about the sole Orthodox church in London and enjoyed bringing the real priest, Evgeny Smirnov, onto the page. The idea that the Bolsheviks would have had a vested interest in keeping the war going by halting the mutiny was fictionalized, but the continued attempt by White supporters to draw America and Britain into the conflict on their side is the true inspiration for my added drama.

I also found it very telling that in Hall’s retirement speech not long after the war ended, he not only congratulated his countrymen on the conclusion of this war, but he also warned them to keep an eye on the soviets in Russia, from whom he anticipated a great threat. Insight he’d probably gleaned from many sources, but no doubt chief among them was the Russian on his staff, who did indeed go on to help found the cryptography school that continued to train codebreakers between the two world wars, and whose school eventually led to the founding of Bletchley Park during World War II.

Before I began this story, I’d never given much thought to the Bolshevik point of view, I confess. But in researching it for Evgeni and Nadya, I certainly came to understand the cry for a people’s champion, even if I can’t approve of the way they went about it. I was especially struck by the Russian women’s movements of the day that demanded that institutions like marriage and family be abolished—not just that they no longer be mandatory, but that they in fact be made illegal. But though initial laws were put into effect, I found it rather telling that socialized child-rearing was never really instituted, and marriage certainly persisted too. Because when it comes down to it, ideology can never replace a parent’s instinct and drive to love their child and provide a steady home.