Condemned as a Nihilist

by G. A. Henty

First published 1893

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2.5(5)

Godfrey Bullen leaves England for St Petersburg to work in his father’s business and quickly becomes fascinated by Russian society. Although he has no sympathy with political assassination, chance associations draw him into the orbit of revolutionary activists. The authorities eventually treat those connections as evidence of Nihilist involvement, and Godfrey is arrested and condemned to Siberian exile.

Prison life and forced movement across Russia turn the story into an extended survival narrative. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, Godfrey must wait for another opportunity and then undertake a long journey across Siberia, relying on disguise, endurance and practical ingenuity to stay ahead of pursuit. His ordeal places an English outsider inside the repressive machinery of late-imperial Russia.