The People's Train

Artem Samsurov, a charismatic protégé of Lenin and an ardent socialist, reaches sanctuary in Australia after escaping his Siberian labour camp and making a long, perilous journey via Japan. But Brisbane in 1911 turns out not to be quite the workers' paradise he was expecting, or the bickering local Russian émigrés a model of brotherhood.

As Artem helps organise a strike and gets dangerously entangled in the death of another exile, he discovers that corruption, repression, and injustice are almost as prevalent in Brisbane as at home. Yet he finds fellow spirits in a fiery old suffragette and a distractingly attractive married woman, who undermines his belief that a revolutionary cannot spare the time for relationships.

When the revolution dawns and he returns to Russia, will his ideals hold true? Based on a true story, The People's Train brings the past alive and makes it resonate in the present. Tom Keneally takes us to the heart of the Russian Revolution through the dramatic life of an unknown, inspiring figure.