The Federov Legacy

Surgei Galipova, a Russian immigrant and a rancher in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, owes his life to the Countess Catherine Stanislavovna Federov. When the Countess asks Surgei to send his eighteen-year-old daughter, Alice, to help her in a private hospital she is establishing in St. Petersburg, Alice adamantly refuses. But when her father threatens to disown her, she reluctantly agrees to help the Countess for six months. 

That same summer, in 1914, eleven-year-old Natalya Tcychowski, the youngest daughter of a Hutsul family in the Carpathian Mountains, is coping with a crisis of her own. Having run afoul of the local bailiff, her eighteen-year-old brother, Oleksi, is forced to flee from their home village of Zgardy, which is under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he arrives in St. Petersburg, Oleksi seeks the help of the Countess Federov, who owes his father a debt of gratitude for saving her life twenty-two years earlier. 

The outbreak of war in 1914 puts both Natalya’s and Alice’s lives on a path they could not have foreseen and cannot avoid. Three years later Alice is still trapped in Russia and her position as a Canadian in Petrograd is becoming increasingly perilous. Natalya’s family is torn apart by their loyalty to the Tsar and countess. As Russia is sent into upheaval by the revolutions of 1917, both Natalya and Alice fight for their lives in a country that is rapidly unraveling.

Rosella Leslie Rosella Leslie has been writing since she was old enough to put thoughts on paper. She has published three novels: THE GOAT LADY'S DAUGHTER (NeWest Press, 2006), DRIFT CHILD (NeWest Press, 2010) and THE FEDEROV LEGACY (Caitlin Press, 2013). Her non-fiction work includes THE SUNSHINE COAST: A PLACE TO BE (Heritage House, 2001), and she co-authored BRIGHT SEAS, PIONEER SPIRITS: A HISTORY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST (Touchwood Editions,1996, 2009), SEA-SILVER: INSIDE BRITISH COLUMBIA'S SALMON-FARMING INDUSTRY (Horsdal & Schubart, 1996) and a BC Book Prize winner, A STAIN UPON THE SEA: WEST COAST SALMON FARMING (Harbour Publishing, 2004). Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including WESTERN PEOPLE magazine and the LEADER.