Arthur Ransome is best known as the author of Swallows and Amazons. What is less well known is that as a young man he went to Russia as a journalist, was swept into the maelstrom of the Revolution, and became a spy! During the 6 years he lived in Moscow he collected a rich mass of fairytales, played chess with Lenin, and fell in love with Trotsky's secretary, Evgenia Shelepina.
Weaving together history, legend, and grown-up fairytale, Hugh Lupton's Praise Song for his great uncle tells of the extraordinary story of Arthur and Evgenia’s escape through Estonia on horse and cart - with a stone from Peel Island on Lake Coniston in Arthur's pocket, and the knowledge that if caught, they would both be shot.
As the boundaries between fairytale and reality twist and fade, our various heroes put their faith in a talking horse, a utopian future, and the power of a stone talisman to get them home.
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