Russia in the West. Strange convergences

Before you is not just another local history book about the Kaliningrad region. It is a literary mini-series about how a major part of Russian history unfolded in a particular foreign province. Peter the Great comes here incognito to conduct secret negotiations with the Prussian duke and learn artillery science, Suvorov joins a Masonic lodge, Grigory Orlov escorts the captive aide-de-camp of Frederick the Great, Bagration, Barclay, and Denis Davydov fight against Napoleon's troops, Dostoevsky mourns unrequited love, Lenin contemplates creating a revolutionary organization, and Tvardovsky completes 'Vasily Terkin'. Under the pen of historian Yegor Yakovlev and writer Alexander Tsypkin, the main characters in the space once known as Prussia are the Russians, shaping the destiny of their homeland.