The angel of vengeance

In the Russian winter of 1878, a shy young aristocrat named Vera Zasulich shot the mayor of St. Petersburg, Fedor Trepov. The assassination attempt, a veritable political weapon in pre-revolutionary Russia, was motivated by revenge for the mayor's brutal treatment of a political prisoner. In this now-forgotten story of Russia's most famous terrorist, Anna Siljak recounts Vera's extraordinary life—from privileged noblewoman to revolutionary conspirator, from murderer to martyr, socialist idol, and saint—while vividly evoking the drama of one of the most attention-grabbing trials in Russia and around the world, where political celebrities dominated the scene.