Tobol

What Volume I is about:

In the era of Peter the Great's grand reforms, "Young Russia" buzzed with activity even in the remote reaches of Siberia. The nascent empire crushed medieval voivodeship rule in the taiga. Peoples and faiths intermingled. Captive Swedes, Bukharan merchants, officers and officials, convicts, foreigners, chroniclers and architects, Chinese smugglers, runaway Old Believers, shamans, Orthodox missionaries, and the warlike steppe Dzungars—all of them together, either warring among themselves or saving each other, forged the destiny of Russian Asia.

What Volume II is about:

The intricate threads of human destinies, stretched throughout the first book of the novel, have now tied into knots. Tsar Peter's reforms have plowed through Siberia, and all who were "called" to these free lands are now verifying: are they "chosen" by Siberia? Runaway Old Believers erect their fiery Ship—but will the souls of those who cursed themselves on earth ascend to heaven? Russian regiments march for gold to the distant Asian city of Yarkand—but will they overcome the vastness of the steppes and the resistance of the Dzungar hordes? The stubborn metropolitan fights his way to the sacred idol of the indigenous peoples through the resistance of taiga demons. The Tobolsk architect, guided by ancient secret signs, rescues from captivity the one he hates with all his heart. The almighty Siberian governor finds himself in the clutches of the sovereign, who must decide what is more important—his own pride or the interests of the state?

The stories of individual people intertwine into the common history of the country. And the history of the country is driven by the fierce struggle of the old with the new. Its profound energy is the tension of the eternal dispute between the Poet and the Tsar.

Number of pages: 1415

Size: 60x90/16 mm