Farewell, Madame Korff

On the surface, this is a book about the Great French Revolution: about the web of personal and state intrigues that ensnared it and the characters involved; about the intricacies of European diplomacy and the "gem" in its crown - the secret diplomacy of Catherine the Great. It is harder to define the genre of this book, written by a renowned expert in domestic history and a prominent diplomat. This is a meticulous scientific study, literally grown from the depths of literature and archival documents (among them - previously unknown even to historians!), which, however, reads like a captivating narrative with unexpected plot twists and a series of solved and yet unsolved mysteries. Therefore, the book may be equally welcomed by both professionals and scholars, as well as a wide audience of true literature readers. And there is another reason for this: remarkably, events and characters from a time distant from us turn out to be extraordinarily close to today’s reader, resonant with their thoughts and experiences. After two centuries, they seem to be directly addressing our own life experiences - the experiences of upheavals.