The Czar's Madman

Spellbindingly readable – John Bayley * Times Literary Supplement *This gripping novel of the folly of idealism set in the post-Napoleonic Russian empire, has helped Jaan Kross to the stature of world-class novelist… An outdated, almost forgotten moral beauty struggles with the force of modern, well-meaning compromise * The Times *The Czar’s Madman is no bloodless allegory but a rich slice of reconstructed history… Kross creates an abundant human landscape with nothing schematic about it * Observer *This author’s scope and depth make him a world writer, and his work is translated into every major language – Doris Lessing * Independent *

Jaan Kross was born in Tallinn in 1920. He studied law at the University of Tartu and taught law until his arrest and deportation to Siberia in 1946. On his release in 1954, he returned to Tallinn and devoted himself to poetry and to translating the classics, including Shakespeare, Balzac and Stefan Zweig. Later, his interest in Estonia’s chequered history made him turn his attention to the historical novel, and he established his reputation as one of Europe’s outstanding practitioners of this genre. He was regarded as an Estonian writer of world class. He died in December 2007. On its publication in France, The Czar’s Madman won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger.

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