I was a Potato Oligarch

John Mole (Modern Languages, 1964)

Hopeful oligarchs, hopeless biznismyen, scientists, muggers, conmen, mafia and (extra) ordinary Russians in a world turned inside out. And John Mole setting up a baked potato take-away...

He also corners the market in business names and pizza cheese. He is taken for a Red Square demonstrator, a vampire's victim and unwillingly invents the new sport of pig-surfing. While he is trying to sell British fast food to Russians, Russians try to sell things to him. Fireworks, seashells, tungsten, the scrapings of baby reindeer horn. And advanced biotechnology, using bacteria to purify the air in submarines…

A journey under the (potato) skin of the New Russia by a traveller who gets his hands as well as his boots dirty.

funny and perceptive, a vivid and sympathetic picture of what Russians are really like Rodric Braithwaite – British ambassador to Moscow 1988-1992

£9.99 Paperback Original from all good bookshops

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