‘THE RUSSIAN CONCUBINE is a great story of love, loss and conflicting loyalties in a fascinatingly precarious moment of history. The wonderfully drawn and all-too-human characters struggle to survive in a world of danger and bewildering change, constantly choosing whether to embrace the past or to escape it, caught between cultures, ideologies - and the growing realization that only the frail reed of love is strong enough to withstand the destroying winds of time.’ - Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series.

The Russian Concubine is a sweeping epic love-story.

Exiled from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, the beautiful and fiery Lydia and her aristocratic mother have taken refuge in Junchow, China, in 1928. On the edge of destitution, Lydia uses her wits to survive and resorts to stealing.

She is saved from certain death by a young Chinese Communist, Chang An Lo, and together they are thrust into clashes with savage triads. Lydia and Chang fall in love and are swept up in a fight against prejudice and shame. Forced to face opium-running, betrayal and kidnap, their compelling attraction to each other is tested to the limits in this story of love and loss, secrets and lies.

Yup, this is what I am reading now. I am not even 20% through, so I can’t comment much. But if you are interested, do visit the author Kate Furnivall’s site.

My sis (also known as Miss W) has spent nearly a quarter of her lifespan in this land of the former Tsars… Russia! Well, I fondly remember when we were young, she was interested in the history of the country. Remember Anastasia who claimed to be the only survivor of the Tsar family who was killed?

Anyway, to cut the long story short, my sis actually revealed to me how Russians get their name. All of a sudden, it made sense. The girls have “a” behind their family names.. while the boys don’t.

Marat Safin’s sister Dinara Safina. Get it? I always wondered how come they are siblings yet they have different surnames.

Marat Safin

Well, another example is Maria Sharapova. If she were a guy, her surname would then be Sharapov. Look at her dad’s name - Yuri Sharapov.

Maria Sharapova

Hey, the more I realised.. the funner things get!

It suddenly make sense that Svetlana Kuznetsova isn’t Kuznetsov, Nadia Petrova isn’t Petrov and Dmitry Tursunov isn’t Tursunova. Hey, fun stuffs here!