·       Honorable mention, New England Book Festival

• Finalist in USA Books News 2010 Best Book Awards

·       Shortlist Santa Fe Writers' Project 2010 Literary Awards

January, 2011 - An honourable mention in the general fiction category in the New England Book Festival is the latest recognition as critical acclaim continues to grow from authors, academics, book award competitions, politicians and journalists in the U.S. and Canada for Anton: A Young Boy, His Friend & the Russian Revolution, a best-selling novel by author and former Saskatchewan journalist Dale Eisler, who is currently Canada's Consul General in Denver, Colorado.

Anton was also named a finalist in the historical fiction category of the Los Angeles-based USA Books News 2010 Best Book Awards. Earlier, it was shortlisted for the prestigious Santa Fe Writers' Project 2010 Literary Award.

Winners and honourable mentions in the New England Book Festival will be recognized at an event Jan. 15 in Boston.

Set in a small village in the Black Sea region of Russia from 1919-1925 during the tumultuous wake of the Russian Revolution, Anton is the story of a young boy trying to cope with the suffering and violence he witnesses and cannot understand. Slowly, Anton and his friend begin to comprehend the reality of their lives as their friendship deepens in the adversity they share.

The story, which explores the little-known fate of German immigrants to Russia during and after the Russian Revolution, is being received with widespread praise.

"Dale Eisler has long been numbered among the great writers from the Canadian Prairies," says Roy MacGregor, author of Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People. "In turning his remarkable skills to the novel, he has given us the gift of Anton, a story of simple and lasting friendship that moves from the Black Sea through the Russian Revolution and horrors of the Great War to the mud huts of Saskatchewan. Leon Trotsky is here, as is John Smith-but the characters the reader will never forget are Anton and Kaza."

Similar praise of Anton comes from others in the U.S. and Canada.

Christian Toto's review in the Denver Post calls Anton a story of "enduring friendship" that "enthralls" the reader and transcends its genre. "Historical fiction is an inexact science, one reason ‘Anton,' by Denver-based author Dale Eisler, is such an impressive achievement," says Toto.

"Eisler uses a friendship forged in the fires of the Bolshevik Revolution to illustrate a grim chapter in history ... a bond between the main characters (that) lingers right through the final sentence."

Tucker Hart Adams, former University of Moscow professor of economics and current president of the American Russian Collaborative Enterprises, also praises Anton.

"Eisler has written a beautiful, gripping story of the dark side of the Bolshevik Revolution," says Adams. "Told through the eyes of a small boy in a tiny Ukrainian village, the reader is immediately immersed in the horror of the Revolution, the redeeming power of friendship and courage, and the promise of opportunity in a new land."

Dr. Mary Conroy, author, professor of Russian history, University of Colorado, is equally laudatory. "Anton is both beautifully written and thought-provoking. Eisler has a Tolstoy-like ability to get inside his characters, particularly the mind of the protagonist, who appears as a four-year old at the beginning of the book, maturing to a ten-year old by the end of the main narrative. The book is more than a recapitulation of childhood memories, however. Devoid of tendentiousness, the book reminds the reader of the value of economic and political systems in which--in contrast to those obtaining in the Soviet Union--the right to private property and freedom of speech, assembly and procedures to elect and dismiss government officials are insured.

Steven Hayward, author of the acclaimed The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke, calls Anton "powerful, absorbing reading."

"This is a novel I admire immensely: a forceful literary style, wonderful characters, impressive erudition about a historically and geographical remote setting, all of that and a compelling story worth telling," says Hayward, assistant professor of English at Colorado College.

Author and journalist Douglas Brown of the Denver Post says: "With Anton, Dale Eisler pulled off the difficult: He merged the sweep of history with the granular details and the small dramas of family into a gripping, moving whole. Anton is a fascinating glimpse into a little-known period of history. It is also a fabulous story. I recommend it highly."

Tom Farer, dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and author of several books, is similarly impressed. "An arresting, imaginative work by a gifted and sophisticated writer," says Farer of Anton.

The Saskatchewan Publishers Group review says Anton "is a perfect marriage of insight and history. As a reader, I felt as if Eisler reached into my mind and revealed that I already know the universal human truth."

David Wyn Roberts, author of The Alchemist's Song, says Anton has "characters who are finely tuned, poignant and real. A sweeping historical hymn, spanning two continents that ultimately carves a smooth arc across the bridge of decades."

Eric Schmaltz, associate professor of history at Northwestern Oklahoma State University calls Anton "a compelling coming-of-age story" that is "an illuminating and rich portrait of the enduring power of friendship and memory spanning continents and generations."

John Bohlinger, Lt-Gov for the State of Montana, calls Anton "a story of friendship, faith, politics and Russian history. It touched my heart and is a story that must be told."

Journalist Tim Naumetz, a senior Canadian Parliamentary correspondent, calls Anton "a riveting and dramatic story" about the bloodshed and upheaval of violent revolution. "But it is also a story about the incredible strength of true friendship and love, the kind that knows no borders or tragic human divides. This story is not for the faint of heart, but in the end, it is the heart that triumphs."

Writing in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Bob Robertson says Anton "is a novel of awakenings, many brutal, and of a loving friendship between two troubled boys.

Anton has also caught the attention of the Russian community in the United States. Dmitri Klein, author, Laureate of the National Award the "Golden Pen of Russia for 2008 and 2009 and publisher of the Russian journal Horizon, says "this debut of Consul General Dale Eisler as a fiction writer has caused real interest among authors and journalists."

Merv Weiss, writing for the Germans From Russia Heritage Society, says, "The book is well researched, but the reader must keep in mind that the story is fiction, although it is based on the author's mother's family. The book provided me with a new understanding of the slow evolution of the "dorfsowjet", answerable to a larger regional "sowjet", and a system which eventually led to complete collectivization. Although I am sure it was not the author's intent, the book also explained for me how the revolutionary zeal of St. Petersburg was able to filter down to forcibly change and control the lives of the residents of even such a small and isolated village as Fischer Franzen in the Kutschurgan valley.

Mostly though, the book is about Anton, and his family, and his best friend, as they live through the horrors around them, and struggle to understand what is happening to their lives in Fischer Franzen, until 1925 when they are able to emigrate to Canada, to Saskatchewan."