What Others Are Saying About the Series

“[A]fter watching a series like Chernobyl, The Last Czars is basically like following a dinner at a James Beard Award-winning restaurant with a trip to Taco Bell.” — Dustin Rowles, Pajiba

“Documentary buffs will find it light on information. Costume drama fans will find it a shallow imitation of shows like The Tudors and The Crown. […] In the ‘90s, this could have been a popular stealth softcore porn, but in the age of PornHub, the gratuitous nudity just seems awkward and not especially sexy.” — Brenden Gallagher, The Daily Dot

“Who is the intended audience? People who have never heard of Rasputin? People who have never heard of Russia? If that’s what you want to do, make a Russian imperial Game of Thrones — and make it bloody and mindblowing. Don’t make this.” — Viv Groskop, The Guardian

“[T]he story has been told so often that it has become a fairy tale — a romanticised ghost of historical fact. The mad monk, the haemophiliac son, the weak Tsar, the hysterical Tsarina, the doomed and lovely grand duchesses — we are obsessed with these archetypes, eschewing socio-cultural analysis for overly personalistic narratives that leave no room for new voices, new subplots, that might disrupt the tale we know so well.” — Emily Couch, independent writer

“What’s the point of a history lesson if the historian isn’t upfront about their own biases?” — Karthik Shankar, Thrillist

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Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

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