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"A darkly humorous farce with satirical undertones and an unconventional love story."
In 2024, Alexey, a young Russian of draftable age, is sent on a mission to Istanbul to retrieve the true head of Saint Sergey of Radonezh, the patron saint of Russia. At the same time, Angela, a young CIA officer, is sent to Istanbul to receive a secret device from a Russian defector.
Angela at first mistakes Alexey for the defector but soon realizes her mistake. Alexey and Angela, who has learned Russian from her grandmother, become close friends.
But a colonel in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, who has been assigned to work with Angela, continues to believe that Alexey is the defector, and his efforts to retrieve what is actually the head of Saint Sergey cause a ridiculous amount of trouble.
Alexey has some absurd problems trying to get the saint's head back to Russia, while Angela finds herself in danger as she continues trying to find the real defector and retrieve the secret device.
About the author
A large part of Rea Keech's career has been teaching international students in college, including at the University of Tehran (Peace Corps assignment), the University of South Carolina, Voorhees College, schools in Japan and Greece, and at Anne Arundel Community College. He is a retired Professor of world literature and linguistics.Keech lived and worked in Iran, Japan, and Greece for seven years. Saint Sergey's Head is his fourth novel set outside of the United States. It begins in Moscow and is set mostly in Istanbul, both of which cities Keech has visited more than once.
