Kenith Trodd

An overnight train trip through Europe becomes a profoundly unsettling odyssey for an English businessman sharing a compartment with a beautiful young American and an imperious Viennese dowager.

Alexei's life as a minor Russian diplomat in London starts changing wildly one Sunday morning, as he is thrust into a new world of parties, society weddings and baffling women, and he becomes convinced he is the victim of a sinister Foreign Office plot. Stephen Poliakoff's subtle parody of the conventional spy-thriller genre presents a world where conspiracy and betrayal lurk around every corner.