Beware the rugged Russian bear

"It was left to a handful of British adventurers to expose the brutality of a new order which was to shake western democracy to its very foundations. Who were these whistle-blowers? Some were diplomats or spies; others were scholars, novelists or journalists; one was a clergyman. Then there were the governesses: young English, Irish and Scottish women hired to look after the scions of aristocratic Russian families, yet who suddenly found themselves living in perilous circumstances, their employers sworn enemies of a murderous new regime."--Book jacket.