Large works of pickle. Feather and sword

One of the most prominent writers of Russian classics is Valentin Pikul (books). The list of books will help you figure out where to start studying the author’s work, because each of his novels deserves your attention.

Historical miniatures

The Hawk of Petrov's Nest (collection)

This story-essay by Valentin Pikul is dedicated to Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, a statesman and associate of Peter the Great. The reign of Peter the Great is a time of tremendous changes in the life of the country, changes in the age-old way of life, new trends, the formation of an empire... In such times, new “stars” rise on the political horizon... Contemporaries assessed Count Tolstoy ambiguously, but Valentin Pikul presents to readers his original view of the era and person. Further

Prince Grigory Potemkin... Creator Black Sea Fleet, who led the annexation of Crimea to Russia. Coming from the family of a Smolensk nobleman, who showed great promise while still a high school student, he was later expelled from Moscow University... Smart, with a complex character, he was one of the most outstanding people of its time. The story about the era - the brilliant age of Catherine II - is also skillfully woven into the fabric of the narrative.

This exciting two-part novel is dedicated to a cruel era - the period of the 18th century between the reign of Peter I and before the reign of Catherine II, when, in contrast to the dominance of foreign temporary workers, a patriotic movement of Russian people, ready to defend the Fatherland, arose. Historical events are shown by Pikul, as always, in his unique style, captivating millions of fans.

Word and deed. Book one. Queen of the most terrible sight. Volume 1
Word and deed. Book one. Queen of the most terrible sight. Volume 2
Word and deed. Book two. My dear confidants. Volume 3
Word and deed. Book two. My dear confidants. Volume 4

The Great Patriotic War. A time of testing for the country and for the people. The two-part novel tells about the difficult everyday life of the sailors of the Northern Fleet who fought for the Fatherland on its northern borders. They had to fight not only with the enemy, but with the elements... A separate line of the story is devoted to the rear - the fate of those who were waiting for their defenders at home. Debut novel by Valentin Pikul.

Devilry

Russian Empire, beginning of the 20th century. On the one hand, the flourishing of art and literature, new trends in the life of society, scientific achievements... On the other hand, a boil of unresolved social problems that is about to burst, a defeat in the Russo-Japanese War that is gaining momentum revolutionary movement…Against the background of these events, the imperial family brings the Siberian “elder” Grigory Rasputin closer to them...

Russo-Japanese War – Far East

Wealth

Kamchatka is a rich and original region. Pikul's novel tells about the life of Kamchatka at the beginning of the 20th century in the context of a story about the fate of the main characters: love, betrayal, everyday life, service, confrontation, military duty, conscience and honor, the harsh beauty of nature... Continue

Three ages of Okini-san

The main character of the novel, an officer who went from midshipman to admiral, had a difficult lot - he was a witness and participant in all the most dramatic events that took place at the beginning of the 20th century in Russian Empire. This novel is also about the love and devotion of a Japanese woman to a Russian sailor, which was a reflection of Pikul’s passion for Japan and the study of its history and culture.

Cruisers

The novel reflects the tragic events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1094-1095 and the heroic defense of Port Arthur by Russian warships. Pikul always had a special relationship with the fleet. The son of a military sailor, Valentin Savvich himself served in the navy during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. After the end of the war, having served, he entered the naval school, but was expelled because he had only 5 classes school education. Thus deprived of the opportunity to continue his naval service, Pikul decided to become a writer, to write about the sea, about great events Russian history, famous and prominent personalities. Further

No series

I have the honor

The main character of the novel was born in the Russian Empire in 1875. His father was an impoverished Russian nobleman, and his mother was a Serbian woman who left her family... Having completed his studies with brilliant results, the hero ends up in the intelligence service of the General Staff. On this way he passes a long and hard way, participates in events related to two world wars and the conflict in the Balkans. The name of the main character in the novel is not indicated. There is still debate among literary scholars and admirers of Valentin Pikul’s work as to whether there was a real prototype for the main character of the novel. According to one version, there was no real prototype, and the image is collective. According to another version, the prototype is Major General of the General Staff Alexander Aleksandrovich Samoilo. The third version says that the real character was a nobleman from the Aladin family.

Battle of the Iron Chancellors

The novel is dedicated to the confrontation between two talented diplomats - German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Russian State Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, each of whom defended the interests of one of the world powers. Part of the narrative covers the period from 1850 to 1870 - a time of great and significant changes in the world political arena. Many ideas that arose at that time formed the basis of geopolitical concepts that played a large role in the history of the 20th century. Further

Feather and sword

The novel takes place in the cruel and romantic 18th century. The engine of history was secret conspiracies, palace intrigues, secret diplomacy. The world is changing rapidly, and conflicts are becoming global for the first time in history. Events Seven Years' War took place in Europe and North America, the Caribbean, India and the Philippines... At this exciting and fascinating time, a young French diplomat, Chevalier d'Eon, arrives in Russia under the guise of a woman. Further

Requiem for the PQ-17 caravan

The novel is dedicated to a well-known event during the Second World War, which, however, is not written about in textbooks. In 1941, when the fascist German army marched victoriously across Europe and invaded the USSR, the allied powers of the anti-fascist bloc reached agreements on mutual supplies. In 1942, on June 27, a convoy of 35 ships with military equipment and strategic cargo... Continue

Out of the dead end

Valentin Savvich Pikul has always been very sensitive to the fleet and the maritime theme. “From the Dead End” is a chronicle novel that so truthfully and realistically depicts the heroes and events of the birth of the Northern Fleet, which came at a high price against the backdrop of the fight against the invaders.

This novel is one of the first creative biography Valentina Pikulya. This broad, multifaceted picture tells the story of the life of the Russian hinterland, depicted in the collective image of the fictional Urenskaya province of the early 20th century. A brilliant lawyer and jurist, Prince Myshetsky, is appointed to the post of governor. The new governor begins large-scale changes...

Years of life: from 07/13/1928 to 07/16/1990

Born in Leningrad. From his father, a sailor and then a naval engineer, he inherited a craving for the sea. In 1941, the war found the Pikul family in Leningrad, the father became the battalion commissar of the White Sea Military Flotilla in December 1941, and the mother and son survived the first winter of the siege. In 1942, Valentin and his mother managed to leave Leningrad along the “Road of Life”. The boy, despite his young age (Valentin was barely 14 years old), was eager to go to the front, and, having escaped from his mother, Valentin entered the cabin boy school on Solovki. The fate of the writer's parents was tragic: his mother died in 1942 during evacuation, and his father volunteered for the Marine Corps and died in the battles near Stalingrad. Valentin Savich himself graduated from a ship's school in 1943 with a degree in helmsman-signalman and was sent to the destroyer Grozny of the Northern Fleet, where he served until the end of the war. After the victory, Valintin Pikul was sent to the Leningrad Preparatory Naval School to continue his education; after those semesters he was expelled for poor academic performance. Future writer worked as a department head in a diving squad, then in a fire department. Even then, Valentin Pikul decided to become a writer, was a volunteer in literary circles, and attended associations of young writers. In 1946, he began his first major work, the novel “A Course in the Sun,” but could not finish it. He began publishing in 1947 in periodicals. Soon after the war, the writer got married and the couple had a daughter, however family life did not work out (including due to financial circumstances) and after a few years the marriage broke up.

In 1954, V. Pikul’s first novel, “Ocean Patrol,” was finally published. The novel was a success and V. Pikul was accepted into the USSR Writers' Union. The author himself subsequently repeatedly said that he was dissatisfied with the novel and even called it “an example of how not to write novels.” In 1958, V. Pikul remarried and this marriage lasted until the death of his second wife in 1980. Pikul's first historical novel, entitled "Bayazet", was published in 1961. In the same year, the writer moved to Riga, where he lived until his death. The success of “Bayazet” spurred V. Pikul’s interest in historical topics and in the future the writer focused mainly on the 100-year period of Russian history from the death of Peter I (1725) to the Decembrist Uprising (1825). In 1979, V. Pikul’s most controversial novel, “Evil Spirit,” was published. In addition to the story about the life of G. Rasputin, the author depicted in black the moral character and habits of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna (now considered Russian Orthodox Church to the face of the holy passion-bearers), representatives of the clergy (including the highest). Almost the entire royal entourage and the then government of the country are depicted in the same manner. V. Pikul was accused of distorting history and outright slander. P.A.’s son spoke very negatively about the novel. Stolypin, many critics and historians assessed the novel negatively, and Yuri Nagibin even resigned from the editorial board of the magazine “Our Contemporary” as a sign of protest after the publication of the novel.

However, despite the criticism, V. Pikul continued to write and his books continued to be very popular. After the death of his wife, the writer married for the third and last time. His last wife, and now his widow, is Antonina Ilyinichna Pikul. Now Antonina Ilyinichna is doing a lot of work to perpetuate the name of the writer and promote his work. In 1988, V. Pikul received the State Prize of the RSFSR named after. Gorky for his novel “Cruisers” (1985). The writer died of a heart attack, leaving several unfinished works.

According to relatives and acquaintances, after the publication of the novel “Evil Spirit,” Pikul was often harassed with threats, and once he was even severely beaten. According to the writer’s friend, Yagodkin, after the publication, secret surveillance was established over Pikul on the personal orders of M. Suslov. The writer himself said that the editor-in-chief of “Our Contemporary” S. Vikulov was to a large extent to blame for what happened. The writer’s wife was dying at that time, he was in terrible depression, and Vikulov voluntarily, without the consent of Pikul, published a stripped-down version of the novel in the magazine. The novel was first published in its entirety only at the end of perestroika.

The author often donated the money he received for books to what he considered necessary: for example, the State Prize of the RSFSR named after. He donated Gorky for the novel “Cruisers” to the residents of Armenia who suffered from the 1988 earthquake; he gave the Ministry of Defense award for the novel “From the Dead End” to the Riga hospital where “Afghan” soldiers were treated; The fee for the novel “The Favorite” was donated to the Latvian Peace Fund.

On the initiative of the Central Council of the Solovetsky School of Navy Young Men and other organizations, the following were named after V. Pikul: The Baltic motor ship maritime shipping company, minesweeper of the Black Sea Fleet, border boat, planet "Pikul" (T4174, opened in 1982), streets in the cities of Baltiysk and Severomorsk, libraries of the Baltic and Pacific fleets.

Writer's Awards

Orders and medals
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (twice - 1978, 1988)
Order of Friendship of Peoples
Order of the Patriotic War, II degree
Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"
Medal "For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic"
Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"

Awards
State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. Gorky (1988)
Literary Prize of the USSR Ministry of Defense (1988)
M. A. Sholokhov Prize (1993 - posthumously)

http://www.pikulbook.ru

Valentin Savvich Pikul(1928, Leningrad - 1990, Riga) - Russian Soviet writer, author of numerous works of art on historical and naval topics.

Biography

Valentin Pikul was born on July 13, 1928 in Leningrad. Sometimes the urban-type settlement of Kagarlyk (Ukraine) is mistakenly indicated as the place of his birth, but in fact, it was not Pikul himself who was born there, but his father. As a child, Valentin also visited this village, where many of his father’s relatives live.

Savva Mikhailovich Pikul was called up to serve in the Baltic Fleet, where he served as a sailor on the destroyer Friedrich Engels. After service, he remained in Leningrad, worked at the Skorokhod factory, graduated from the Economic Institute and became a military naval engineer at shipyard. The writer's mother - Maria Konstantinovna (maiden name - Karenina) - was from the peasants of the Pskov province.

In 1940, the family moved from Leningrad to Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk), where Pikul’s father was sent to work. There Valentin Pikul studied at the House of Pioneers in the “Young Sailor” circle.

In 1941, Valentin Pikul passed the fifth grade exam and went on vacation to his grandmother in Leningrad. Due to the outbreak of war, it was not possible to return until the fall. Mother and son had to survive the first winter of the siege in Leningrad.

In December 1941, my father became a battalion commissar of the White Sea Military Flotilla and moved to Arkhangelsk.

In 1942, Valentin and his mother managed to leave Leningrad along the “Road of Life” to Molotovsk on one of the trains. From there, Valentin Pikul fled to the cabin school on Solovki. The mother died that same year. His father transferred to the Marine Corps and a year later died in the battles of Stalingrad.

In 1943, Pikul graduated from the cabin boy school on the Solovetsky Islands (he was a cabin boy of the first intake) with a degree in helmsman-signalman and was sent to the destroyer Grozny of the Northern Fleet, where he served until the end of the war. After the victory, he was sent to the Leningrad Preparatory Naval School, but in 1946 he was expelled “for lack of knowledge.”

He worked as a department head in a diving squad, then in a fire department. I was engaged in self-education. Even then Pikul decided to devote himself literary creativity and entered the literary circle as a free listener, led by Vera Ketlinskaya. He also began to attend the association of young writers, which was led by Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky.

At this time, Pikul became friends with writers Viktor Kurochkin and Viktor Konetsky. Friends called them “the three musketeers.”

In 1962, Valentin Pikul moved to Riga (“under pressure from Daniil Granin and the regional party committee,” according to the writer’s colleague, and now the writer himself, Viktor Yagodkin), where he lived until his death.

According to relatives and friends, Pikul was often harassed with threats, and after the publication of the novel “Evil Spirit” he was severely beaten. According to the same Yagodkin, after the publication of the historical novel “At the Last Line” (“Evil Spirit”), secret surveillance was established over Pikul by personal order of M. Suslov.

Valentin Savvich Pikul died on July 16, 1990 from a heart attack at the age of 63. He was buried in Riga at the Forest Cemetery.

Family

Soon after the war, Pikul married Zoya Borisovna Chudakova (b. 1927). They had a daughter, but a few years later the marriage broke up.

In 1958, Pikul married the widow Veronika Feliksovna Chugunova (maiden name Gansovskaya, born in 1919). There were no common children in the marriage, although the wife already had an adult son from a previous marriage. Pikul dedicated his historical novel “Word and Deed” to Veronica Feliksovna.

Soon after Chugunova's death (she died in February 1980), Pikul married for the third and last time. His last wife, and now his widow, is Antonina Ilyinichna Pikul. Now Antonina Ilyinichna is doing a lot of work to perpetuate the name of the writer and promote his work. From her pen several books about V. Pikul were published: “Valentin Pikul. From the horse's mouth", "Dear Valentin Savvich!", "Valentin Pikul. I measured life by volumes of books,” “The Country of Pikulia Lives,” as well as the photo album “The Life and Work of Valentin Pikul in Photographs and Documents.” For this writing activity, A. I. Pikul was accepted into the Russian Writers' Union.

Creation

In 1947, Pikul managed to get published in periodicals for the first time - it was educational material about ginseng. At the same time, Pikul conceived his first novel entitled “Course to the Sun.” Before that, he had read a book about the destroyers of the Northern Fleet, which outraged him with its boringness, and he decided to write about it more truthfully and better. However, even after three options of the story, he was dissatisfied with it and destroyed the manuscript with his own hands. Nevertheless, fragments of the story were published in the naval newspaper “On Watch”, which was then published in Tallinn.

In 1950, his stories “On the Shore” and “Ginseng” were published in the anthology “Young Leningrad”.

Pikul’s first novel was published in 1954. It was called “Ocean Patrol” and told about the fight against the Germans in the Barents Sea during the Great Patriotic War. The novel was a great success, and Pikul was accepted into the USSR Writers' Union. However, the author himself later disowned his work in every possible way and said that this novel is an example of how not to write novels.

The last novel that Pikul worked on until his death was “Barbarossa,” dedicated to the events of World War II. Having planned to write two volumes, Pikul first expected to write the first volume (“Square of the Fallen Fighters”), then write the book “When the Kings Were Young” (about the events of the 18th century) and only after that finish the work he started with the second volume. However, his plans were not destined to come true: having written only most of the first volume of the novel “Barbarossa”, Pikul died.

He also hatched the idea of the novel “Arakcheevshchina,” for which he had already collected all the material.

The plans still include novels about the ballerina Anna Pavlova - “Prima”; about the artist Mikhail Vrubel - “The Defeated Demon”; O older sister Peter I, Sophia, - “Tsar Baba”.

The total circulation of books during the writer's lifetime (excluding magazines and foreign publications) amounted to approximately 20 million copies.

Pikul's books continue to be in great demand and are published and reprinted almost every year in thousands of copies. According to the writer’s widow A. Pikul, in 2008 their total circulation reached 500 million copies.

Criticism

Pikul's works conveyed an unofficial, although very rarely incorrect, view of historical events. His novels were censored. The author could not print what he wanted.

Pikul's historical works have often been and continue to be criticized for careless handling of historical documents, vulgar, according to critics, style of speech, etc.

Most of all in this sense, his last completed novel “Evil Spirit” (magazine version: “At the Last Line”) got the most, despite the fact that the author himself considered it “the main success in his literary biography» .

The novel is dedicated to the period of the so-called. "Rasputinism" in Russia. In addition to the story about the life of G. Rasputin, the author historically incorrectly portrayed the moral character and habits of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (now canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as holy martyrs), and representatives of the clergy (including the highest). Almost the entire royal entourage and the then government of the country are depicted in the same manner. The novel was repeatedly criticized by historians and contemporaries of the events described for its strong discrepancy with the facts and the “tabloid” level of the narrative. For example, A. Stolypin (the son of former Prime Minister P. A. Stolypin) wrote an article about the novel with the characteristic title “Breads of truth in a barrel of lies” (first published in the foreign magazine “Posev” No. 8, 1980), where, in particular, the author said: “There are many passages in the book that are not only incorrect, but also base and slanderous, for which in a rule-of-law state the author would be responsible not to critics, but to the court.”

Soviet historian V. Oskotsky, in the article “Education by History” (Pravda newspaper, October 8, 1979), called the novel “a stream of plot gossip.”

In a reference article about V. Pikul in the newspaper “Literary Russia” (No. 43, October 22, 2004), literary critic V. Ogryzko spoke about the effect the novel had among writers at that time:

The publication in 1979 in the magazine “Our Contemporary” (No. 4-7) of the novel “At the Last Line” caused more than just fierce controversy. Among those who did not accept the novel were not only liberals. Valentin Kurbatov wrote to V. Astafiev on July 24, 1979: “Yesterday I finished reading Pikulev’s “Rasputin” and I think with anger that the magazine has very dirty itself with this publication, because such “Rasputin” literature has never been seen in Russia in the most silent and shameful time. AND Russian word Never has there been such neglect, and, of course, Russian history has never been exposed to such disgrace. Now they seem to write more neatly in the restrooms” (“Endless Cross.” Irkutsk, 2002). Yuri Nagibin, as a sign of protest after the publication of the novel, resigned from the editorial board of the magazine “Our Contemporary”.

Despite this, V. Pikul’s widow believes that “...it is “Evil Spirits” that, in my opinion, is the cornerstone in understanding and, if you like, in knowledge of the character, creativity, and indeed the whole life of Valentin Pikul.”

Nowadays the name of V. S. Pikul is borne by:

bulk carrier "Valentin Pikul" (home port of St. Petersburg);
minesweeper of the Black Sea Fleet "Valentin Pikul" (home port of Novorossiysk);
border patrol ship"Valentin Pikul" (home port Kaspiysk, Dagestan);
planet Piculia (T4174; discovered in 1982);
streets in the cities of Baltiysk and Severomorsk (since 1991);
libraries of the Baltic and Pacific fleets;
Moscow Region Prize - for the best work on a military-patriotic theme;

In 1996, V. Pikul was posthumously elected full member Petrovsky Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in 1998 (on the 70th anniversary of his birth) his name was included in the memory sheets of the Golden Book of St. Petersburg (for No. 0004).

In 1996, at house No. 16 on 4th Krasnoarmeyskaya Street in St. Petersburg, where Pikul lived from 1947 to 1961, a memorial plaque with an appropriate inscription was unveiled.

Notes

Literature

A. I. Pikul “Valentin Pikul. From the horse's mouth"
A. I. Pikul “Dear Valentin Savvich!”
"Valentin Pikul. I measured life by volumes of books” (autobiographical notes. Compiled by A.I. Pikul)
A. I. Pikul “The country of Pikulia lives”

Valentin Savvich Pikul, one of the most famous authors of popular historical novels of the 70s-80s of the last century, was born in Leningrad on July 13, 1928.

The writer's father, Savva Mikhailovich, was a battalion commissar of the White Sea Military Flotilla. In 1942, the family received news of his death. Perhaps the example of his hero father forced the boy to run away from home at the age of 13 to the cabin boy school on Solovki, from where in 1943 he was sent to serve on the destroyer Grozny. Northern Fleet. The writer reflected everything he experienced during this period of his life in the autobiographical story “Boys with Bows.”

After the war, it was not possible to continue his military career: in 1946, Valentin Pikul was expelled from the Leningrad preparatory school naval school"due to lack of knowledge." It is not known what motivated the young man then, but from the time of this failure he decided to devote himself to literary creativity and began to attend the association of young writers, which was led by Vs. Christmas. He has been searching for his path for several years: he writes poetry, stories, turning to the history of the North, then to the history of Russia. He works without days off or holidays, just like in war. Gradually he becomes the owner of a unique library (11 thousand volumes), collecting the necessary materials on the history of states.

His first novel, “A Course in the Sun,” brought to the Zvezda magazine, was not accepted by the editors due to the frank weakness of the work. But Pikul did not give up trying. And in 1953, the first stories published in the anthology “Young Leningrad” saw the light, and already in 1954 his first novel “Ocean Patrol”, telling about the military Arctic, was published. This time the critics assessed the work positively and the author was even accepted into the Writers' Union.

Soon Valentin Pikul began working in the genre of historical prose. His first novel, describing the past of Russia, “Bayazet”, was published in 1961. The impetus for the creation of the novel was the publications of S. S. Smirnov about the defenders Brest Fortress. Pikul drew an analogy between this event and one of the episodes Russian-Turkish war 1877 - 1878 Following this novel, a number of others were published: “Paris for Three Hours” (1962), “On the Outskirts of great empire"(1964-66), a series of novels about the events of Russian history from 1725 to 1815, which became the most popular - "Pen and Sword" (1972), "Word and Deed" (1974-75), "Favorite" (1984) . Their central characters are major historical figures: Prince Volynsky, Elizaveta Petrovna, Potemkin, Gorchakov, Biron, Anna Ioanovna. Another cycle consisted of novels about the Russian-Japanese War, united under the general title “Defense”: “Wealth” (1977), “The Three Ages of Okini-san” (1981), “Cruisers” (1985), “Katorga” (1987).

The writer’s relationship with both literary critics and historians was not easy. Some reproached him for the lack of artistry, the “rawness and lack of elaboration” of the text, others for many historical inaccuracies. Of course, V. Pikul’s novels are not documentary narratives. But the writer’s undoubted merit is that he managed to attract the attention of readers to history - first of all, to Russian history. Perhaps this is precisely the secret of a writer’s success. He managed to connect the chronicle historical events with a fascinating plot, which led to the extraordinary popularity of his novels. They were published in magazines, which were then sold in copies (at that time not even on a photocopier, but on a rotaprint). Pikul's books were sold using coupons as a reward for donated waste paper. They were given to friends to read almost on bail and for a limited time, and they were read to the gills. All his books were a huge success, his popularity was extraordinary. Pikul's performance was unique.

For 40 years literary activity Valentin Pikul created 30 novels and stories. The government did not ignore it either. The writer was awarded with orders Red Banner of Labor in 1978 and 1988, Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree. For the novel “Cruisers” he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR. A. M. Gorky, for the novel “From the Dead End” - literary prize of the USSR Ministry of Defense (1968), for the novel “Evil Spirit” - prize named after. M. A. Sholokhov posthumously (1993).

Valentin Savvich Pikul is a talented author of numerous works on historical and naval topics. His books allow you to plunge headlong into the world of the past and learn Interesting Facts. We have selected his most famous novels for you.

According to the author, the work is based on the true memoirs of an intelligence officer of the Russian General Staff, who later became a general of the Red Army. We learn first-hand about childhood, parents, adolescence and all the subsequent intricacies of fate. Many people recommend reading the book, because it informatively shows the underside of foreign intelligence work.

The work covers the reign of Catherine II from her birth to old age. The formation of this legendary historical figure took place against the background important events. The empress went down in history as Catherine the Great, but she would not have been so if not for the help of the people who stood at her throne.

During her reign, many talented commoners rose to prominence, such as Denis Fonvizin, Gavrila Derzhavin, and the Orlov brothers. One of the main characters in the book, Prince Potemkin, comes from poor nobles. He became one of Catherine's favorites. The conquest of Crimea, the glory of Ushakov and Suvorov are associated with his name.

Pikul describes not only the life of the Russian state, its external and domestic policy, but also palace intrigues, a decline in morals at the Russian court.

The novel talks about recent years reign of Nicholas II. Valentin Pikul powerfully and believably showed those times when all the “evil spirits” came to light. Imperial family did anything but government affairs.

It was then that Grigory Rasputin appeared from the shadows. His corrupting influence corrupted the already dying system. Constant revelry, orgies, and drunken fun led to a certain end. The book powerfully shows the scene of Rasputin's murder, his agony comparable to the agony of Tsarist Russia itself.

Sakhalin Island at the beginning of the 20th century. The pristine beauty of nature and a completely unsuitable piece of land for life in those days. The gloominess of Sakhalin was given by the presence of hard labor. Particularly dangerous criminals, political prisoners and people who were convicted for nothing were exiled here from all over the country.

Their living conditions were simply terrifying. And in the events described by Pikul, it begins Russo-Japanese War.Convicts organize into squads to protect Sakhalin from the Japanese . Artistic storytelling is closely intertwined with historical facts. You watch the fate of the hero with interest and excitement.

The action takes place around the Baltic squadron and the main vicissitudes are tied around February Revolution. Russia is rocked by riots from the very top to the very bottom. Just yesterday, a disciplined team of sailors today does not want to obey command. National enmity, anarchy, and cruelty break out among the crew.

But the Moonsund archipelago attacks the fleet German Empire. Even at this time Time of Troubles There were brave people who were ready to defend their Motherland even at the cost of their lives. Pikul described naval battles and the heroism of sailors in an amazingly realistic manner.