An aristocratic Russian doctor races to contain a deadly plague in an outpost city in Manchuria - before it spreads to the rest of the world.

1910: people are mysteriously dying at an alarming rate in the Russian-ruled city of Kharbin a major railway outpost in Northern China. Strangely some of the dead bodies vanish before they can be identified.

During a dangerously cold winter in a city gripped by fear the Baron a wealthy Russian aristocrat and the city's medical commissioner is determined to stop this mysterious plague. Battling local customs an occupying army and a brutal epidemic with no name the Baron is torn between duty and compassion between Western medical science and respect for Chinese tradition. His allies include a French doctor a black marketeer and a charismatic Chinese dwarf. His greatest refuge is the intimacy he shares with his young Chinese wife - but she has secrets of her own.

Based on a true story that has been lost to history set during the last days of imperial Russia The Winter Station is a richly textured and brilliant novel about mortality fear and love.