Vitebskii (Electronic book text)

Vitebskii is historical fiction about the Russian Revolution, immigration and a middle-class Jewish family. Vitebsk (VEET-ebsk) is a large city located in the Northwestern part of what is now the Republic of Belarus. Its where the famous route from the Varangians to the Greeks was first established and here that at the turn of the twentieth century the first rumblings of the Revolution were heard throughout the Empire. During the time frame of the story, it's part of the Royal Russian Empire with Nicholas II on the throne. He was a weak monarch who was both unsuited and untrained for his responsibilities, making it relatively easy for the Bolsheviks to gain a foothold and force him to abdicate. Politics is at the core of the story and serves as the platform to illustrate what Russia was like before and during a time of social upheaval, what it meant to immigrate, and how much was lost on both sides for a socio-political imperative that was doomed from the start.