The Commissariat of Enlightenment

An epic debut novel about the death of two Russian visionaries, the life of a radical antihero, and the birth of a new kind of power.

“Impeccable. . . . A chilling novel. . . . The imaginative energy that runs through it gives it a rare quality of distinction.” —The New York Times Book Review

Russia, 1910. Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo, a remote railway station. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose cinematographer, Nikolai Gribshin, is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men—the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin—who have radical, mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long, cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity.

The Commissariat of Enlightenment is a mesmerizing novel of ideas that brilliantly links the tragedy and comedy of the Russian Revolution with the global empire of images that occupies our imaginations today.

“Glitteringly original . . .an intricate, harrowing, and dangerous first novel.” —Esquire

“Inventive, unusual, humorous. . . . Deeply intelligent, The Commissariat of Enlightenment beautifully illuminates the hazardous powers of image, icon, and relic.” —Andrea Barrett