The Melting of the Snows is set in the Soviet Union when ‘Glasnost’ and ‘Perestroika’ were in their Gorbachevian heyday. The first setting of the book is London. Later, the action crosses to Moscow and Leningrad. During this era of Russian history, I had the privilege of working with the Russian-language service of the BBC World Service. As a reward for completing an interesting task I was offered a trip to the Soviet Union. So, once again, what I describe is what I experienced.