Reviews

          "Novels about czarist Russia at war with itself are common and often commonplace. This one isn't. The sweep of Emily Hanlon's historical novel is grand, taking the reader from the frozen isolation of Siberia to revolutionary hideouts in Paris and to splendid aristocratic palaces in St. Petersburg. Her intricate descriptions put readers into the scene.
         Hanlon's characters are fully drawn and complete. They do not simply walk through the pages but live the story, as does the reader...Hanlon's well-researched and extremely readable novel contains all the elements: passion, intrigue, suspense, treachery, murder, lust. But it is also a story of a love that survives all obstacles.
        Given the grand scope, the fine writing and superb characterization, a favorable comparison with "War and Peace" is not out of the question." 

                                 — United Press International

        "Brilliant...An exciting, tightly plotted story of murder, heroism and treachery build around the Russian revolution that failed, the movement that was crushed by the czar immediately following the abortive Russo-Japanese War in 1905."  

                                 — Los Angeles Times

        "A lush and boldly imagined recreation of the 1905 "dress rehearsal" for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Petersburg smoothly mixes history and fiction, realism and romance... Characters are either fictitious or composite portraits based on real people, but all carry conviction and verisimilitude to real life. The scenes in which they take part-scenes of passion, plotting, violence in the streets and confrontations with the dreaded secret police, the Okhrana-succeed each other at a mounting pace." 

                              — Publisher's Weekly

         "Petersburg is a triumph on all fronts, a masterful blend of times past and timeless passions... Fans of historical fiction will thoroughly enjoy her inclusion of Father Gapon, the statesman Sergei Witte, revolutionary Leon Trotsky and others, in addition appreciation the fine craftsmanship of her narrative.
         Petersburg succeeds at being a compelling and sensual love story without trashiness, a drama of betrayal and double identities without contrivance, and a portrayal of a reactionary society pushed to violence without artificiality.
        The result is not merely a good read, as every reader hopes for, but a great one."

                            — Pittsburg Press