Futility tells the story of someone very similar to Gerhardie himself: a young Englishman raised in Russia who returns to St. Petersburg and falls in love with the daughter of a hilariously dysfunctional family-all played out with the armies of the Russian Revolution marching back and forth outside the parlor window. Part British romantic comedy, part Russian social realism and with a large cast of memorable characters, this astoundingly funny and poignant novel is the tale of people persisting in love and hope despite the odds.
