Sunbathing in Siberia: A Marriage of East and West in Post-Soviet Russia

Told completely from the Trans-Siberian and a series of Russian jets, this is the story of a young British poet, who, after becoming engaged to his translator more than 3,500 miles east, embarks on a journey into the very heart of Siberia to marry his fiancée. However, in place of the desolate wasteland he expected to find, Michael discovers the side of Siberia little known outside of Russia. After 30 years of British rain, Michael has to learn the art of sunbathing, in the last place on Earth anyone would think to take a pair of flip-flops. Without aiming to be a survival guide, romance, or autobiography, Sunbathing in Siberia manages to be all of them and none. Michael has to adapt to the Siberian way of life: as Russia struggles to find its new identity he is forced to recreate himself, while finding the tools needed to live with parading nuclear missiles, a new wife, wild bears, and a host of extreme dangers.