The Mystery of Olga Chekhova: A Life Torn Apart By Revolution And War

The true story of a family torn apart by revolution and war, reissued for the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution.

Olga Chekhova was the niece of Anton Chekhov, a stunning Russian beauty and a famous Nazi-era film actress who Hitler counted among his friends. After fleeing Bolshevik Moscow for Berlin in 1920, she was recruited by her composer brother Lev, to work for Soviet intelligence. In return, her family were allowed to join her.

The extraordinary story of how the whole family survived the Russian Revolution, the civil war, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union is a breathtaking tale of compromise and survival in a merciless age.

In Antony Beevor’s spellbinding narrative, this single story paints a vivid picture of an extraordinary era.