The Kingdom of Agamemnon

The final novel by a titan of post-Soviet literature, this fantastical thriller about fakes and imposters in Russian history is both a rewrite of Greek myth and a spiritual sequel of sorts to The Brothers Karamazov.

The coruscating fictions of the late Vladimir Sharov, astonishing, hilarious, brooding, and somber, count among the transformative novels of the last twenty-five years. Sharov was a daring literary innovator—also a professional historian—whose fantastical inventions turn a probing light on the dark depths of Russia's past. The Kingdom of Agamemnon, his final novel, is both a sequel to The Brothers Karamazov and a reimagining of Greek myth. In it, Sharov explores the harrowing legacy of state terror in today's world.

The Kingdom of Agamemnon revolves around the quest for a missing novel: The Kingdom of Agamemnon. Its author, Nikolai Zhestovsky, was a mystery man: a Tsarist pretender, theologian, informer, and Gulag convict. His daughter, Galina, is driven to recover his work and uncover his story. Calling herself Electra, she pulls back the curtain on the complex history of her family. A tale of vengeance and terror emerges, set in a world where the line between victim and perpetrator is impossible to discern.