Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina (1894-1973) was the second wife of the English children's author Arthur Ransome (1884-1967), most famous for his children's stories such as "Swallows and Amazons" and "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea", relating stirring tales of adventurous holidays on the water in the English Lake District and elsewhere.

However, Ransome was also a journalist, and worked for "The Daily News", considered a left-wing and radical newspaper. It was while he was working for them that he made the acquaintance of Evgenia, who was now the personal secretary of Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) who was one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution, but who fell out of favour with Stalin, and was assassinated in exile in Mexico City.

Ransome's own relationship with the Soviet authorities was complex and remains controversial to this day, with some describing his attitude as "near treasonous".

Initially, Ransome and Evgenia lived in Estonia, but later the two set up home in the Lake District, where they are now buried in the same grave.

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