Once Professor Aleksandra Ponomarenko had been George Cove’s tutor at Oxford but today, twenty years since they last met, she is telling him a life story – his own. He knew already that one of the greatest human tragedies of the twentieth century, the nuclear incident at Chernobyl in 1986, was deliberate sabotage, but Aleksandra reveals that not only was his role pivotal in the catastrophe, but everything else that mattered in his life – his education, his job, where he lived, how he lived, who he fell in love with, and who he lost – was orchestrated by the unseen hand of a man called Bill Familiant.
As the Cold War became colder, Familiant, the British spy master, was in fear of the increasing Russian hegemony in Eastern Europe. He developed a counter-strategy that would last at least a generation, but to deliver his ambitious plan he needed to find agents who would grow into their role, and who could not know they had been selected for the purpose.
Until this meeting with Aleksandra, George had no idea he and Anna had been the chosen ones. In their young adult years, when Familiant started pulling the strings, fate seemed particularly kind to them; but all the time, their feelings and loyalties were being moulded in preparation for active espionage in Poland and the Ukraine, and to be each other’s’ first real love.
With George and Anna as his spearhead, Familiant’s personal attack on the Red Enemy snowballed towards Chernobyl and the events that would haunt George forever.
George finally faces up to the truth about his past and addresses Familiant’s questionable morality and masterful manipulations, but he also gets the chance to build a new life – his own. With a second chance, will he be more successful?“When fate deals you a hand better than you could possibly imagine, should you trust it unquestioningly? If you do, will fate then find a way to claim back the fortunes it has bestowed on you?
”This is a gripping novel of intrigue, power and complex relationships, showing the havoc caused when the State and the powerful manipulate innocent young lives to achieve their own goals—even when it comes to acts against humanity. This poignant story tackles important issues about destiny, complicity and personal identity and responsibility.”
“Just how complicit were the British in the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl?”
A gripping novel of intrigue, power and complex relationships.”
Amazon Breakthrough Novel of 2014
The Masterful Manipulation of George Cove, our first novel, was shortlisted into the final 300 of the ‘Amazon Breakthrough Novel of 2014’ in the general fiction category.
If you are trying to get a perspective on the current events in the Ukraine this is the book you need to read. ‘The Masterful Manipulation of George Cove’ tells the story of the struggle of Ukrainian nationalists in the 1970’s against Soviet hegemony. We never seem to learn the lessons of the past.
“When fate deals you a hand better than you could possibly imagine, should you trust it unquestioningly? If you do, will fate then find a way to claim back the fortunes it has bestowed on you?”
The Masterful Manipulation of George Cove is available to be purchased on Amazon as both a paper back and eBook.