Last Train to Freedom by Deborah Swift @swiftstory @cathiedunn #WW2 #TransSiberian #Russia #Japan #WomensFiction #Spies #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub
Last Train to Freedom
By Deborah Swift
Publication Date: May 8th, 2025
Publisher: HQ Digital
Pages: 361
Genre: Historical Fiction / WWII Fiction
'Taut, compelling and beautifully written – I loved it!’ ~ DAISY WOOD
'Tense and thought-provoking' ~ CATHERINE LAW
1940.
As Soviet forces storm Lithuania, Zofia and her brother Jacek must flee to survive.
A lifeline appears when Japanese consul Sugihara offers them visas on one condition: they must deliver a parcel to Tokyo. Inside lies intelligence on Nazi atrocities, evidence so explosive that Nazi and Soviet agents will stop at nothing to possess it.
Pursued across Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Express, Zofia faces danger at every turn, racing to expose the truth as Japan edges closer to allying with the Nazis. With the fate of countless lives hanging in the balance, can she complete her mission before time runs out?
'Such an interesting and original book…
Informative, full of suspense and thrills.'
~ NetGalley review
Excerpt
They got into bed fully dressed in coats, hats and shoes, just in case they needed to run, and Masha pulled down the blind on the door before climbing up to her bunk. Zofia switched off the light and dozed, but she was too full of adrenaline to sleep properly. For these few hours of darkness, the train was quiet, except for the constant rhythm and rocking of the carriage. Even in the third-class compartment, the yeshiva students, usually chattering and full of laughter, were sleeping.
When the train slowed, Zofia sat up and looked out of the nearside window. Pillars, many platforms with bridges and stairs. She pulled up the blind to the corridor to see the platform they were approaching was unlit, though Novosibirsk station seemed to be a big echoing place of concrete and glass. Even at this time of the night, a small crowd of hawkers was waiting, faces white in the dark, ready to hand goods through the windows in return for a few roubles.
Her first thought, as always, was of Jacek, and she found herself searching the crowd for his face. Stupid, she thought.
She checked the latch was down, and wondered if Otto would get off or whether he was asleep in third class with Dr Rabinowitz and the students. Not wanting to talk to anyone, she curled up again to try to sleep as the train slid to a halt.
She was dimly aware of the clank of train doors opening and slamming shut. Other people getting off to buy provisions, even in the dark. Russian voices and the hiss of steam. The noise of coal being emptied into the hopper and of water gurgling into the tanks. More people getting on and the thud of boots in the corridor.
Then, a glint of something at the edge of the door.
A flicker that came and went.
A long blade sliding up between the latch and the door.
For a moment she thought she was imagining it, that it was some sort of trick of the light.
It moved slowly as she watched, fascinated, until the latch began to ease upwards out of its housing. It took seconds but it felt like minutes.
Until with a gasp, the realization of what was happening hit her, and she kicked at the underside of Masha’s bunk with her boot. ‘Masha!’
Too late; in the last few seconds the latch gave, and it was so quick, the flick of the knife hardly had time to register before the door to the corridor slid open, and the bulky figure of a man in a padded overcoat filled the small space.
Not Otto. A stranger’s face in a fur hat loomed over her, one hand grabbed a shoulder and something cold pressed against her throat. The knife. The smell of something sour on his breath. She contracted herself into a ball.
An accented voice, deep and coarse, but not Russian. ‘Give me the papers, the parcel from Sugihara and all will be well.’
Universal Buy Link: http://mybook.to/TransSiberian
Deborah Swift
Deborah Swift is the English author of twenty historical novels, including Millennium Award winner Past Encounters, and The Poison Keeper, the novel based around the life of the legendary poisoner Giulia Tofana. The Poison Keeper won the Wishing Shelf Readers Award for Book of the Decade. Recently she has completed a secret agent series set in WW2, the first in the series being The Silk Code.
Deborah used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV and enjoys the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something she loved doing as a scenographer. She likes to write about extraordinary characters set against a background of real historical events. Deborah lives in England on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Website: www.deborahswift.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/swiftstory
Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/DeborahSwift
Thank you so much for hosting Deborah Swift on your lovely blog.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club