The Natural Order of Things - David Blackie

Russia, late 1870s. The country is in a state of flux. The serfs have been freed but changes have not gone far or fast enough for a new group of revolutionaries. Political murders are on the increase and state paranoia is rife. In the midst of this English engineer, Alex Stevenson, arrives on the shore of the Volga to build the longest railway bridge in Europe. When Alex decides to protect a pair of nesting birds he unwittingly sets off a chain of events which leads to terrorists attempting to assassinate the Tsar. While the hunt for the perpetrators unfolds, Alex becomes entangled in a dangerous game as a government minister, a young noblewoman and a group of violent revolutionaries plot against each other over the future of Russia.