First of a series of novels about Soviet Russia. The theme of improvisation, which I introduce here, reflected my own sense, still, that in writing a novel I was on a high wire and ready to fall off, since I didn't consider myself a traditional novelist, and still don't. The TLS asked me to review an Anthology of Armenian Poetry, edited by Diana der Hovanessian. I fell in love with the poetry, and was moved by the tragic history of Armenia. This was one starting point for this novel; the other was Pushkin's 'It sails. Where shall we sail?...' The last line of his poem 'Autumn'.