Richard Brock

The House of Ilya Richard Brock

Anton and Nadia fall quickly in love. Sadly, their love is not to be and they are forced to opposite ends of the Russian Empire. After three years of tumultuous change, loss of noble status, and no sure means of making a living, they reunite in avant-garde Irkutsk Siberia. Anton is an orphaned Zaporizhian Cossack secretly adopted by a childless noble couple. He is unaware of his Cossack roots. Anton enters the military and must travel from St. Petersburg to Alaska. His wilderness guide is mysterious Cossack named Ilya. On his way, Anton meets dreamy Nadia and they quickly fall in love. But she is on her way to St. Petersburg. Coincidentally, Ilya is her guide. In St. Petersburg, a family secret is revealed forcing Nadia from noble society. In Alaska, Anton defends two Tlingit Indian friends against Russian aggressors and subjects himself to court martial and expulsion from nobility. Forced from nobility, expelled from civilized society, and separated by thousands of miles: will they reunite; will they find a way of making a living; and are they still in love after three years apart?