What I think about this book — "Two Americans at the Court of Catherine the Great" They are both participants. Both witnessed the key events of Catherine's era. They were in Peterhof, in the Winter Palace, on the southern borders of the empire, among the Old Believers in the Siberian wilderness, and even near Pugachev — where history usually breathes not on the pages, but with dust, fear and silence. Together they look at Russia of the 18th century not as a stage, but as a living organism. Here, everything — from court intrigues to the icy wind from the Neva — has its own weight and meaning. It was important for me to preserve the atmosphere of the time: without distorting the facts but allowing the imagination to breathe freely. The time machine in this story is not fantasy, but a way to see: the past cannot be changed, but you can understand how exactly it gives birth to the future. This is a story of an outsider's view. A story about how to be a stranger but become needed. About trust that is given once. About power that is afraid to lose itself. And about choice that always remains personal. I wrote it as a conversation - not from the past, but from the present. Because, as the book itself says: “There are journeys where the true destination is the person you become by the time you arrive.”
They are both participants. Both witnessed the key events of Catherine's era. They were in Peterhof, in the Winter Palace, on the southern borders of the empire, among the Old Believers in the Siberian wilderness, and even near Pugachev — where history usually breathes not on the pages, but with dust, fear and silence.
Together they look at Russia of the 18th century not as a stage, but as a living organism. Here, everything — from court intrigues to the icy wind from the Neva — has its own weight and meaning.
It was important for me to preserve the atmosphere of the time: without distorting the facts but allowing the imagination to breathe freely. The time machine in this story is not fantasy, but a way to see: the past cannot be changed, but you can understand how exactly it gives birth to the future.
This is a story of an outsider's view. A story about how to be a stranger but become needed. About trust that is given once. About power that is afraid to lose itself. And about choice that always remains personal.
I wrote it as a conversation - not from the past, but from the present. Because, as the book itself says:
“There are journeys where the true destination is the person you become by the time you arrive.”