Purge is a novel of political hypocrisy, intrigue, brutality, and falsification. It is a work of fiction based on a composite of people, places and events in the Soviet Union during the period beginning in 1934, approximately a decade after the death of Lenin, the "father" of the Bolshevik Revolution, and revolving around Stalin, who, despite Lenin's misgivings, succeeded him at the apex of Bolshevik power.