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AN AMAZON TOP 10 BOOK OF THE MONTH From New York Times bestselling author Karl Marlantes comes a propulsive and sweeping novel in which loyalty friendship and love are put to the ultimate test Helsinki 1947. Finland teeters between the Soviet Union and the West. Everyone is being watched. A wrong look or a wrong word could end in catastrophe. Natalya Bobrova from Russia and Louise Koski from the United States are young wives of their country s military attachés. When they meet at an embassy party their husbands Arnie and Mikhail both world-class skiers drunkenly challenge each other to a friendly - but secret - cross-country wilderness race. Louise is delighted but Natalya is worried. Stalin and Beria s secret police rule with unforgiving brutality. If news of the race gets out and Mikhail loses Natalya knows it would mean his death her imprisonment and the loss of her two children. Meanwhile Louise who is childless uses the race as an opportunity to raise money for a local orphanage n