Nikolai Returns.

AuthorKelsey, Susan L.

Nikolai Returns

by Michael Tannner

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Is this a sin, Your Honor?" the woman asked. The act in question was the government-ordered destruction of a 500-year-old monastery in Russia, and the year was 1920. Seventy years later, a second blinding flash introduces the title character, Nikolai (Kolya). His road-to-Damascus experience propels him toward the destiny that has eluded him through harrowing military service in the Afghan War, years of soul-numbing factory work, and the profitable but dangerous arms dealing that had made him a rich man.

Nikolai Returns is based loosely on stories and experiences the author, a Florida Bar member practicing in Jacksonville, gained during multiple visits to Russia over a period of 20 years. The novel treats the reader to finely crafted characterization and authenticity. Moving between current scenes and flashbacks, it portrays with unflinching detail the realities of war, of friendships made and tragically lost, of the price paid in loss of humanity with no measurable return on the investment, of life in post-war Russia. We come...

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