PauBina Simians has been forcedto abandon thoughts of her

Russian homeland by the deathsof her parents and grandparents.

By FRAN METCALF

RUS4PAN EVOLUTIONT'S been a sad three yearsfor Paullina Simons since theinternational bestselling author

last came to our shores. Not only hasshe lost both grandparents but theRussian-born writer has also mournedthe death of her parents.

Having relied heavily on her family'shistory culture, birthplace and story forher 11-book writing career, their deathshave delivered a severe blow.

"I very much still feel the Russian-ness in me but in the last four years Ihave lost all the members of my familythat brought me here," she says fromher Long Island home on the US's eastcoast. "And so, for me, Russia hasbecome very painful. I don't speakRussian and I don't make Russian foodany more. It reminds me of my familywhich causes me pain. I hope it's atemporary thing."

This reluctance to dwell on thoughtsof her home country might be whySimons' new novel Children of Libertyis set in Boston and features a Sicilianfemme fatale.

But fans of Simons's The BronzeHorseman trilogy will not bedisappointed by her new fictionaloffering - Children of Liberty is aprequel.

While The Bronze Horseman,

Tatiana and Alexander and TheSummer Garden chronicle the livesof fair-skinned Tatiana and her loverAlexander over several decades andtwo continents, Children of Liberty tellsthe story of Alexander's parents, Gina(or Jane as she becomes) and HaroldBarrington.

"I thought the story would be simplerthan it turned out to be," Simons saysin her Long Island drawl. "But themorel delved into it, the morel saw therichness of that world.

"There's something about Boston thatinspires my imagination. There's somuch history there. It's one of America'soldest cities and the revolution startedthere and the Constitution was draftedthere and all the immigrants camethere like they did to New York. Thatwhole clash of the cultures is veryinteresting to me."

Set at the end of the 19th centuryChildren of Liberty begins with thearrival of Gina, her brother Salvo andtheir mother Mimoo on a ship into theport of Boston from Naples.

Detei mined to start a better life in anewcountry,14-year-oldGinadiscoversa world where she can throw off theshackles of Italian tradition and charther own course. Her path crosses witheighth-generation Bostonian Harold

Barrington, who is wealthy as well asbetrothed.And so the scene is set for a

trademark Simons love story completewith betrayal, sexual desire andconflict, against a tumultuous politicalbackdrop with the rise of Americansocialism.

While Harry has a predestined future,Jane's is unwritten and the intrusionof politics in their everyday livesinfluences their choices and direction.

"I like these themes because they'revery much like myself," Simons says.

"My father wanted us to move toAmerica because he thought anythingcould happen here whereas in theSoviet Union nothing could happen- or the same things would keephappening."

Born in Leningrad in 1963, Simonsmoved with her family to the USat age 10. She grew up with hergrandfather's stories of surviving thefirst terrible winter after the Battle forLeningrad began and her family livedan impoverished life until they movedto the US.

Since then, she has lived in Kansas,New York, Texas and elsewhere butnow lives in Long Island with herhusband and four children.

For Simons, politics and history

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determine much about a society andChildren of Liberty features some ofthe iconic personalities of the dayincluding Socialist Party of Americapresidential candidate Eugene Debsand activist Emma Goldman.One of the book's main characters,

Ben, is also involved in the constructionof the Panama Canal under John Frank

Stevens, who was chief engineer of the82km waterway from 1905 to 1907.

"I love how the personal storiesall interweave with these things,"Simons says. "This was a fascinatingtime to live. Socialism and radicalismwas all part of the movement of thenew working, independent-mindedwoman."

CHILDREN OFLIBERTYby Paullina Simons,HarperCollins,$22.99

Meet Paullina Simons. November 9,6.30pn-i. Presbyterian Ladies CollegeTheatre. 14 McNeil St, PeppermintGrove. Tickets $15, include authortalk. Q&A and a glass of wine.Bookings on 6460 1125 or melissa.harkins@dymocks.com.au.

Media Monitors Client ServiceCentre 1300 880 082

Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL)licenced copy

Sunday Times, Perth23 Sep 2012, by Fran Metcalf

STM Entertainment, page 21 - 287.91 cm²Capital City Daily - circulation 274,955 (------S)

ID 163539216 PAGE 2 of 2