The President's Holiday

One late summer afternoon, a successful middle-aged man sits peacefully with his wife on the veranda of their summer house

Half an hour later, the building is swarming with secret police and heavily armed officers, and he and his family are in fear of their lives

The man is Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the USSR, and the date is 18 August 1991

Penny Gold draws on the diaries of Raisa Gorbachev to tell the story of a family under siege and an idealist who unwittingly destroys everything for which he has fought

'tense political family drama' ~ Sunday Times