In this compelling novel of romance and intrigue, a young journalist heads to Russia in 1986, eager to experience the new reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev. Instead, she finds a country where the new is at odds with the old — and nothing is the way she imagined.

Natalie Chester has spent her budding career learning Russian and paying her dues in a New York news agency, waiting her chance to be on the frontlines where the important stories are taking place. When she’s finally sent to Russia, she finds that her optimism was misplaced. She almost misses the most impactful story of the day – the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident; her boss openly dislikes her; and there’s a woman in the office who may or may not be KGB, skulking around, watching her.

More than once, she finds herself in serious trouble with the Russian government, unsure if she’s just naïve or being set up. But it isn’t until she falls deeply in love with Anatoly Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, a progressive Russian diplomat, that she discovers the Russia of old is still very much a pervasive force.

An immersive read, Dispatches from Moscow combines an accurate portrait of the period with a page-turning plot. The author is well-versed in her subject, having been stationed in the Soviet Union as an Associated Press reporter at that time. The love story is compelling; the book has a strong sense of place, and even the newsroom politics and Natalie’s missteps have the kind of detail that would be difficult to imagine without on-the-ground knowledge.

Given today’s world, the story will resonate with readers, who can draw their own conclusions about the difficulties of changing a foreign regime into one of openness and freedom. As the story underscores, change is difficult under the best of circumstances but nearly impossible in countries where rights are limited and the rules are always shifting.

In short, readers will find this story as edifying as it is entertaining.

Also available as an ebook.