Author Description

Eastern Europe had been a tinderbox long before the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Summer of 1914. For the gypsies of Russia, who would eventually become scapegoats for the radical unconformists of long held imperial ways, the Great War had come to them early. The Black Hand, a group of young conspirators from the Balkans, had been secretly growing their ranks in the underground for months. The gypsies were not immune to these promises of freedom and independence from the ever-growing kingdoms around them. Despite her best efforts however, the gypsy Aanya was unable to keep her husband from their lure, thus involving her unwillingly in what would become known as the war to end all wars. While trying to keep tabs on her husband's fate in Petrograd, Aanya has unintentionally crossed paths with a significant man from her past. The Count of Kaliningrad, a man of newly titled importance in charge of a speculative chunk of land not yet in Russia's firm grasp. Aanya the gypsy means little to the Count's new world of grand excess now, but the world is changing, and they must change with it. When 1914 comes to a close, will the young Count be able to come to terms with his gypsy past?