'Beyond the Samovar' is a gripping, engaging story of escape, love and loss. In 1919, a young English couple, Livvy and Peter, leave Baku, which the previous year had become the capital of an independent Azerbaijan. While Livvy is reluctant to leave her home, Peter sees no future for Britons in the new country and treats their escape as an adventure. With their baby, they bluff and bribe their way across Bolshevik and White Russian territory to Archangel on the north coast of Russia, hoping to board a British ship. Only two of them ever manage to reach home.