Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing: A Novel

by John Calvin Batchelor

John Calvin Batchelor's Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing is a triumphant return to the epic grandeur of his earlier novels The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica and American Falls. Eight years in the making and based on long-rumored accounts of a Soviet manned mission to the moon launched prior to Apollo II, it takes on nothing less than the titanic contest of the Cold War, the never-to-be-repeated heroics of the sixties' space race, and the hopelessly tragic history of the Soviet Union.
Peter is an orphan, the only son of Apollon Nevsky, the greatest air ace of the Second World War. As he begins his story, it is 1968, the eve of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It is also the homestretch of the moon race, and Peter is freshly arrived at Starry Town (Russia's Houston Manned Space Center), a cosmonaut candidate who dreams of claiming the glowing white orb of the moon for Mother Russia. Exuberant, patriotic, loyal, he is nonetheless haunted by his patrimony. His father is one of the vanished, a hero of heroes slaughtered for his heroism by Stalin's henchmen. And now he is being watched - by the Chekhist thugs who dominate every aspect of Russian life and by a mysterious and powerful woman whose role in his life is darker and more deadly than he can yet know.
At Starry Town, Peter falls under the influence of his three "uncles," known as the Martian Troika - his father's three bravest wingmen during the war. They are the heart, soul, and passion of the Russian space program. Peter's idols, they are ruthless men, though certainly no less ruthless than the forces pitched on all sides against them. Like Ishmael aboard mad Ahab's Pequod, Peter is both witness to and willing participant in the tragic and momentous events of the next year - culminating in his uncles' indomitable, doomed quest for the moon.
Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing is a story of Russia in our time. Peter tells us of betrayal, fratricide, the paradox of fate. But he also tells us, in eloquent prose on an opulent scale that spans from the white nights of Leningrad to the deep winter of Siberia, from the steppe to the seas of the moon, what happens when men of great vision stare down the tyrants in pursuit of a dream.

Genres: Fiction, Space, Russia

499 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[G.d. Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s odd that Batchelor chose the word “true” in the title, because he tells an outlandishly improbable story, one in which an unknown Soviet moon mission in July of 1969 is perhaps the most believable element.

The Soviet Union sought monumental publicity for its accomplishments, shamelessly placing its heroes on literal posters and atop metaphorical pedestals. Meanwhile, the state shrouded its failures with lies and obfuscations; while many were too large to be completely obscured, neither could an onlooker get a true knowledge of their size and shape. Given these tendencies, and the various real-life calamities and near-calamities that overtook its space program (Voshkod 2, Soyuz 1, the failure of the N1 rockets), many additional stories and legends have cropped up regarding Soviet space missions gone awry. And the notion of an unknown Soviet moon mission is a fascinating premise for a novel, an idea so intriguing that I couldn’t forget about it once I’d heard of it. Consequently, this book’s been in my mental “to-read” pile for a decade or so, albeit constantly displaced by more available novels.

I don’t know if any book could have lived up to the pressure I’d placed on this one by thinking about it for so long; I do know I was disappointed. Strangely, the book’s not just about a Russian moon landing, but about a Soviet bureaucracy literally at war with itself, riven with personal hatreds that would seem petty if they weren’t so deep. Indeed, the book’s stated main plot ends up nearly obscured by absurd subplots—abductions, assassination attempts, bureaucratic infighting that turns into just plain fighting, and all sorts of similar shenanigans. Were it not for the promise of the titular moon landing, I’m not sure I would have finished it—and yet there are plenty of interesting nuggets to be seen along the winding road from the beginning of the story to our final brief glimpses of moon rock. For all the diversions, Batchelor is a great writer, one who can grapple with the same timeless questions as other writers while still turning a phrase into something new enough and different enough that it rewards the patient reader. “But can you answer for me how much of a life is willful choice and how much is unavoidable fate?” his narrator asks, and while the question itself isn’t new, the phrasing is subtle and interesting enough to make us consider it again.

One wishes Batchelor could have indulged in these asides while attaching them to a more straightforward and realistic story. There are plenty of details out there now about the Soviet moon program, enough that one could probably write a book like this in a more mock-documentary style; I know I’ve been sucked into several Wikipedia wormholes while researching this topic, and I’m tempted to take my own crack at the topic. And yet, this one remains an intriguing, if flawed read. For in its hyperbole and outlandishness, the book gets at an inherent contrast in the Soviet state—the first country to place a man in outer space was also one of the cruelest, a place of both great and deplorable accomplishments, of noble ideals poisoned by ego and ignoble realities tempered by humanity, a place where a man could (and many men did) end up heroic, imprisoned, or both in turn.

[Jonathan Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came to me at a very unusual time. A friend suggested I read it, and I started it as I was en route to the Jet Propulsion Lab for the end of the Cassini mission. At the same time, one of my best friends was touring "Starry Town" near Moscow and the Russian launch facilities in Kazakhstan, which is where much of the action of this book takes place. So my mental state was doubly suggestible to the story!

Batchelor has a great ear for Russian idioms. One can easily imagine hearing this book read with a Russian accent and believing it to be an authentic narrative. The action is non-stop, as a naive and brash young man finds himself caught up in the political intrigue of a past generation which will not let him go. From the Bolshoi Opera, to the confines of the Lublyanka prison, to the depths of an abandoned copper mine where political prisoners are "vanished", to a Siberian listening post beset by starving bandits, the settings are amazing and beautifully described. Set amidst the culmination of the drive to the Moon and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, fictitious characters and real people are interwoven with actual events of the Cold War and the Space Race. I found myself frequently checking my knowledge of events of the time to see if I had recalled a name wrong.

My only (very) minor criticism is that Batchelor's grasp of spaceflight is not quite as encyclopedic as his knowledge of military tactics. But that will not spoil anyone's enjoyment of the book.

Highly recommended for space fanatics and people interested in Soviet life during the Cold War.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Nevsky, an aspiring cosmonaut, arrives at Starry Town, a Soviet training camp. His focus is the moon during the lunar space race - the Americans have yet to land on the moon and the Soviets are hoping to be there first. At Starry Town Nevsky comes in contact with his three godfathers, his father's wingmen during World War II, the three men Nevsky has never known personally but has grown up referring to them as the Martian Troika. When he finally meets the men he has come to know as his "uncles" he realizes they truly are larger-than-life characters, that their goal of landing on the moon is even more important than Nevsky's. During his relationship with the Martian Troika, Nevsky finds himself deep in a bit of political intrigue and in love, of course, with a dangerous woman.

This is a hefty book (499 pages) but absolutely worth every single page. Nevsky's desire to know the truth of his father's death and his mother's political actions create another level to the plot, as do the actions and mannerisms of his uncles. The men grow even larger-in-life throughout the story causing Nevsky to question the definition of "hero" and where he might fit into that equation. The story is written from a ninety-something Nevsky looking back in time to his early twenties at his breathtaking experiences as a saucer-eyed green cosmonaut. He has loved and lost, grown and continued, and all through the eyes of a young man told by an older man who has gained the experience and wisdom needed to tell the story.