Anabar Tale

Before us is a novel about Russian pioneers of Siberia. Hunters, Cossacks, merchants, and peasants. Without troops and commanders, in just half a century, these people with very small forces increased the territory of then Russia fourfold, laying the foundation for the Russian Empire. It goes without saying that for Russia, the annexation of vast Siberian lands became, in many ways, a defining factor in its complex history. In modern consciousness, this important historical event has been recorded in the form of legends that have little in common with reality. For his novel, Viktor Remizov takes one episode from those events four hundred years ago, and the reader gets the opportunity to participate in a Siberian campaign stretching several thousand versts with challenging, often life-threatening tasks; to be next to the people of that time, whose skills, way of life, and worldview allowed them to achieve what even today seems impossible.

The word «fairy tale» in the title of the novel is used in its old meaning: «record of oral testimonies from witnesses, a report on events, incidents».