The Leonardo Gulag

On a freezing winter night in 1950, in a small town north of Moscow, 20-year-old artist Pasha Kalmenov, the hero of this grim thriller from British author Doherty (Patriots), and his mother are awakened by a group of rifle-wielding soldiers, who barge into their apartment, confiscate Pasha’s identity papers, and hustle him out to a waiting truck. Along with others with specific artistic skills, Pasha is bundled onto a train to one of Stalin’s camps in the Arctic gulag. Their orders are to copy with precision the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Those who don’t measure up are executed. Three years into his ordeal, Pasha realizes that his only option is to escape. Escape he does, and heads to England. A subplot involving Sir Anthony Blunt, Surveyor of the King’s Pictures and Soviet spy, adds to the intrigue. This relentless tale of cruelty and survival provides a sobering look at Stalin’s Russia. Fans of Kafkaesque historical fiction will be satisfied. Agent: Leslie Gardner, Artellus (U.K.). (Mar.)