In this vast and gorgeous tapestry of a novel, serf and master, Cossack and tsar, priest and Jew are brought together in a family saga which unrolls through centuries of history to reveal that most impenetrable and mysterious of Through the life of a little town east of Moscow in the Russian heartland, Edward Rutherfurd creates a sweeping family saga from the baffling contradictions of Russia`s culture and her people - bleak yet exotic, brutal but romantic, land of ritual yet riddled with superstitious fears. From Russia`s dawn and the cruel Tartar invasions to Ivan the Terrible and the wild Cossacks, from Peter, Catherine and the days of `War and Peace` to the drama of the Revolution and the extraordinary events of today - here is Russia`s story in a spellbinding recreated with breathtaking detail and passion.