Lost Gold, A Lost City, A Lost Country

Land of Stone

by R.W. Alexander

Published by: Fiction4All

This book is written in English

Style: Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction

Published: 6 / 2025

Available Formats to Download: MOBI EPUB MS Word PDF MS Reader 

STORY DESCRIPTION

It is 1918. In the Caucasus, the British Government is sending millions of pounds in gold coins by train to prop up the Armenian army against the rampant Turks in a bid to protect the Baku oil reserves on the Caspian Sea, at the end of World War 1. A small squad of British soldiers pulls off an audacious heist of a crate of gold, secreting it with every intention of recovering the treasure at the end of the war.

Fast forward a century to Philip Blake - an emotionally damaged reporter seeking respite from years of front line reporting. Blake finds himself working for the National Archives in London, researching documents from the Caucasus campaign for a commemorative display of the British evacuation of Baku. Regimental and private diaries reveal the story of the missing gold - something that Blake cannot pass by, and one that will ultimately lead to the unexpected love of an Armenian woman.

While Philip Blake begins searching for an exclusive story, the Archives Director - Cassandra Jennings - begins her own separate secret hunt for the gold for much less altruistic reasons. News of the surreptitious ventures in Armenia reach the ears of Iosif Kasharin, a retired Armenian security service spymaster, whose intention for the gold is no less self-serving. Kasharin has local knowledge and resources that he can call on - until he learns the location of the gold, and the political ramifications that could result.

Against a background of the recent history of Armenia - the Land of Stone - through a century of misfortunes from the Genocide in 1915, then disease, famine, earthquake and political upheaval, the story twists and turns to a tense political climax.