Stray Dog Winter
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Steeped in intrigue, sexuality, and a stark noir beauty, David Francis’ 'Stray Dog Winter' is at once an unconventional Cold War thriller and an original, unforgettable love story set in 1980s Moscow. Darcy Bright, a hapless young Australian artist, receives a surprising birthday present from his elusive half-sister Fin, ostensibly in Moscow on a prestigious fellowship painting industrial landscapes. Fin sends Darcy a ticket to the Soviet Union housed in a leather money belt, and an invitation to join her — only if he’s willing to bring the money belt and its contents. Although their relationship has, in the past, swung between passionate attachment and startling disloyalty, Darcy has been drifting in his own life, and sees this as an opportunity for direction and purpose. Or, at the very least, adventure, and decides to put himself in his sister's hands, bringing himself and the belt into the USSR. Upon his arrival into the bleak Soviet winter of 1984, Darcy is quickly engulfed in Fin’s mysterious life there, and he becomes entangled in an extortion plot designed to change the course of Cold War history. And as Fin’s true intentions for her brother unfold, the intricacies of the bond between the estranged siblings start to unravel. With 'Stray Dog Winter', David Francis has entered Graham Greene territory, placing a naïve hero in the center of political intrigue and betrayal at the end of the Cold War. Atmospheric and suspenseful, this novel is pure Soviet noir, a remarkable tale of love, passion, politics, identity, and espionage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This overwrought sophomore effort from novelist Francis (The Great Inland Sea) finds young gay Australian artist Darcy Bright reluctantly traveling to Moscow in 1984 at the beck of his half-sister/cousin Fin, a fellow artist commissioned to paint the city's "industrial landscapes." Interspersing flashbacks of Darcy and Fin's childhood, Francis does little to explain the deep connection, or even the anomalous sexual attraction Darcy feels for the aloof Fin; still, he's helpless against Fin's manipulations, which include her using Darcy's portfolio to score her job. An innocent abroad pulled in different directions by strong-willed people, Darcy must also contend with expatriate Cuban Aurelio, a Moscow patrolman who rounds up hooligans and "homosexes." After Darcy's brief affair with Aurelio, the novel ricochets into thriller territory, layered with blackmail, political intrigue, sex, secret agendas and escalating violence. As the plot becomes more tangled, however, Francis's impressionistic style and lack of restraint ("He removed Aurelio's coat. It was heavy, like a shawl of dread") stand in the way of clarity, rendering his breakneck plot more exhausting than page-turning.