In a Russia where the Decembrists rebellion was successful and the Trans-Siberian railroad was completed before Sasha Trubetskaya wants nothing more than to have a decent debut ball in St Petersburg But her aunts feud with the emperor lands Sasha at university where she becomes one of its first female students - an experiment she suspects designed more to prove female unsuitability for such pursuits than offer them education The pressure intensifies when Sashas only friends - Chinese students - start disappearing and she begins to realize that her new British companion Jack has bigger secrets than she can imagine Sasha and Jack find themselves trying to stop a war brewing between the three empires The only place they can turn to for help is the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace newly founded by the Taiping rebels Pursued by the terrifying Dame Florence Nightingale of the British Secret Service Sasha and Jack escape across Siberia via train to China Sasha discovers that Jack is not quite the person she thought he wasbut then again neither is she.
