‘When it’s time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope.’
May 1907. Young Stalin – poet, bank-robber, spy – is in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party.
As he builds his power base in the party, Stalin manipulates alliances with Lenin, Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg under the eyes of the Czar’s secret police.
Meanwhile, he is drawn to the fiery Finnish activist Elli Vuokko – and risks everything in a relationship as complicated as it is dangerous.
Sell Us the Rope by Stephen May is published in paperback on 13 March, 2025.
You’ll find lots more historical fiction in Historia’s round-up of over 140 books published this year.





