Wandering People

The novel «Wandering People» — a large-scale historical narrative about Russia in the 17th century, a time that contemporaries called «the time of troubles». The author recreates with documentary accuracy not only the key events of the era — the Copper Riot, the church schism, the uprising of Stepan Razin, — but also the everyday life, domestic details, customs, and language of pre-Peter the Great Russia. At the center of the novel is the fate of the son of a streltsy, Semyon Lazarev, one of those whom people in Russia called «wandering people», meaning free, not assigned to service or taxes. His life unfolds against the backdrop of real historical events, and among his contemporaries are Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Nikon, Protopope Avvakum, and the rebel Stepan Razin. The novel is valuable not so much for its plot twists as for its vivid and authentic depiction of the era. «Wandering People» is one of the key works of Russian historical prose of the 20th century, addressing eternal questions: about truth and justice, about faith and rebellion, about freedom and its price.