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Overview
Based on a true story—a brilliant, compelling, and provocative novel of the roots of terrorism and the perils of the immigration experience set in turn-of-the-century London
On December 16, 1910, three unarmed London policemen were killed by a gang of Latvian revolutionaries. Among the most sensational crimes of the era, the Houndsditch Murders sparked an unprecedented manhunt across the capital, and then exploded into the gunfight that entered history as the Siege of Sidney Street. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers, assembled by then home-secretary Winston Churchill, descended upon the gang. After hours of bloody battle, the police broke into the hideout and discovered the corpses of two men. The ringleader they had expected to find—an urbane and charismatic revolutionary known as Peter the Painter—had mysteriously vanished, along with his mistress, Rivka, a young refugee and Yiddish music hall singer.
Based on a compelling true story, A Storm in the Blood is a gripping tale filled with strange and disturbing echoes, violence, ethnic unrest, political subterfuge, and terrorism—as shocking today as the original events were in 1910.
Synopsis
Based on a true story—a brilliant, compelling, and provocative novel of the roots of terrorism and the perils of the immigration experience set in turn-of-the-century London
On December 16, 1910, three unarmed London policemen were killed by a gang of Latvian revolutionaries. Among the most sensational crimes of the era, the Houndsditch Murders sparked an unprecedented manhunt across the capital, and then exploded into the gunfight that entered history as the Siege of Sidney Street. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers, assembled by then home-secretary Winston Churchill, descended upon the gang. After hours of bloody battle, the police broke into the hideout and discovered the corpses of two men. The ringleader they had expected to find—an urbane and charismatic revolutionary known as Peter the Painter—had mysteriously vanished, along with his mistress, Rivka, a young refugee and Yiddish music hall singer.
Based on a compelling true story, A Storm in the Blood is a gripping tale filled with strange and disturbing echoes, violence, ethnic unrest, political subterfuge, and terrorism—as shocking today as the original events were in 1910.
Publishers Weekly
Events that took place in London nearly 100 year ago—the Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street—form the basis of Fink's captivating ensemble crime drama. In early 20th-century Russian-occupied Latvia, Rivka Bermansfelt witnesses her father's attack on a Russian soldier, which leaves her a fugitive. She escapes to London and falls in with a colorful group of Jewish and other immigrant revolutionaries who tend to appreciate the arts and wish to live simple lives in America or Australia. Among them is Peter, a painter with a dark past, whom Rivka falls for while the group plots a jewel heist. All around, appearances are misleading: people think of Rivka as a hardened terrorist, but she just wants to be a singer; Peter gains the reputation as a criminal mastermind even though he's only minimally involved in the notorious murders that happened during the botched heist. While on the surface, the novel relates events of the present day to the terrorism of the past, Fink's story goes deeper, creating a compelling and psychologically driven tale of people who have lost their way in the world. (Oct.)