Sell Us the Rope : Sandstone Press : 9781913207885 : 1913207889 : 01 Mar 2022 : 'Original, adept and confident... What can I say, except that I wish I had written it myself?' - Hilary Mantel London May 1907. Young Stalin attends conference of communists, connecting with fiery Finnish activist Elli Vuokko while he battles to keep the party radical and dodge the secret police. May 1907. Young Stalin ? poet, bank-robber, spy ? is in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. As he builds his powerbase 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. 'A fascinating and immersive imagining of real events that both challenges and illuminates history.' Benjamin Myers