Peter and Alexis: The Romance of Peter the Great

The novel dramatizes the most devastating family tragedy in Russian history: the conflict between Peter the Great and his son Alexis. Set in the early 18th century as Russia lurches toward modernity, the story follows the Tsarevitch who embodies the old order, the Orthodox faith, and the resistance to his father's brutal reforms. When Alexis flees to Vienna seeking refuge from Peter's transforming Russia, the Tsar demands his return, and the novel builds toward one of history's most tragic confrontations between parent and child, between the past and the future. Merezhkovsky writes with psychological intensity about a son who cannot forgive his father for what Russia is becoming, and a father who cannot understand why his heir rejects the empire they're building together.