"Set during the waning days of the Russian revolution, Meek's utterly absorbing novel captivates with its depiction of human nature in all its wartime extremes. This original, literary page-turner succeeds both with its credible psychological detail and in its grandeur and sweep."--"Publishers Weekly," starred review.

In the outer reaches of a country recently torn apart by civil war lives a small Christian sect and its enigmatic leader, Balashov. Anna Petrovna, a beautiful, restless photographer, is raising her young son by herself amid this brutal landscape. Stationed nearby is a company of Czech soldiers, desperate to get home but on the losing side of the recent conflict. Each soldier lives in a fragile co-existence and a troubling uncertainty prevails. Into this isolated community trudges Samarin, an escapee from Russia's northernmost prison camp. Immediately apprehended, he is brought before Captain Matula, the Czech company's megalomaniac commander. But the stranger's appearance has caught the attention of others, including that of Anna Petrovna. And when a local shaman is found murdered, suspicion and terror engulf this village. To be published in twenty countries, "The People's Act of Love" is quite simply magnificent storytelling and it promises to be an auspicious literary event.