I’m talking to you — historical fiction readers, history buffs, and people like me who don’t care for most history but find WWII stories fascinating. Stalin’s Door should be on your reading list.
Much has been written about Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Mussolini, and other “cult of personality” dictators of the early 20th century. Stalin’s Door is different.
John St. Clair’s novel, the product of five years of intense research and expressive storytelling, focuses on three interconnected individuals in the terrifying years of the Great Purge prior to WWII. Stalin himself is not granted a point of view, but through St. Clair’s masterful writing, Stalin is omniscient on the page just as he is ubiquitous in the lives of his characters.
With the suspense of a thriller and vivid details of a historical saga, St. Clair leads you through the ranks of the highly trusted to the doomed (and they’re closer than you might think). In this atmosphere of paranoia and fear, there can be no stereotypical hero, but Stalin’s Door shows that the resilient and strong may not physically survive. It doesn’t make their story less admirable.
St. Clair credits his idea to a documentary about the House on the Embankment, an apartment complex built under Stalin’s orders under the guise of a gift for the Soviet elite, although its true purpose was constant surveillance of its residents. Combined with his general interest in all things Russian, Stalin’s Door became his dedication for several years following.
Stalin’s Door is available at Amazon.com. Read some reviews, read the book, leave a review!
*A special thanks to John St. Clair for allowing me to review his fine book.
