The Czar: A Tale of the Time of the First Napoleon

In the shadow of Napoleon's armies, a peasant boy discovers he was born to royalty. Ivan Barrinka has lived his entire life in the village of Nicolofsky, toiling alongside serfs and playing with village children, believing himself one of them. But when an elderly villager reveals the astonishing truth, that Ivan is the son of a great prince, hidden away in humble circumstances, the boy's entire world shifts on its axis. What follows is a journey of identity and belonging, as Ivan must reconcile his simple peasant upbringing with a lineage he never knew he possessed. Set against the sweeping backdrop of early 19th-century Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, this is a tale of discovery: of class, of heritage, and of the question that haunts every orphan and foundling in literature, who am I really? Deborah Alcock weaves a vivid tapestry of Russian village life, from the watchful eyes of lords like Plato Zoubof to the struggles of serfs dreaming of freedom, all while keeping her young hero suspended between two worlds. For readers who loved Victorian adventures of hidden identity and self-discovery.