The tsar's dragons - Catrin Collier

The first of a trilogy based on the exploits of John Hughes, who founded a city in Russia in the 1800s

In 1869, Tsar Alexander II decided to drag Russia into the industrial age. He began by inviting Welsh businessman John Hughes to build an ironworks.

A charismatic visionary, Hughes persuaded influential people to invest in his venture, while concealing his greatest secret - he couldn't even write his own name. Hughes recruited adventurers prepared to sacrifice everything to ensure the success of Hughesovka (Donetsk, Ukraine). Young Welsh men and women fleeing violence in their home country, Jews who have accepted Russian anti-Semitism as their fate, and Russian aristocrats: all see a future in the Welshman's plans.

In a place where murderers, whores, and illicit love affairs flourish, The Tsar's Dragons is the story of a new beginning in Hughesovka, a town of opportunity.