From one of the most admired literary voices of our time, a magical, riveting story of doomed love, set at the fall of Russia's last Tsar. St. Petersburg, 1917: As the new year dawns, a diver pulls the murdered body of Rasputin, the Mad Monk, from the icy waters of the Neva River. Hours later, his daughters are taken to the Tsar's palace as wards of the Romanovs, where the Tsarina makes a shocking request: would Masha, 18, take her father's place at the sickbed of the tsarevitch Alyosha? Shaken, Masha agrees to do what she can for the imperious young prince, haunted as she is by questions about her father's powers and her future in a country accelerating toward political apocalypse. Two months later, the Bolshevik Revolution forces the Tsar to abdicate, and the whole royal family is placed under arrest in the Alexander Palace. Trapped together in increasingly harsh living conditions, Masha and Alyosha find themselves taking increasing solace in one another's company. The two teenagers, with radically different experiences of Russia, of Rasputin, and of Alyosha's parents' unlucky reign, create a private realm of magic and of love, as Masha introduces the young tsarevitch to a wild and beautiful land he will never live to rule. An unusual, gorgeously told love story, and a rich tapestry of unparalleled storytelling, Enchantments brings to life the final days of Rasputin and the Romanovs. It is a breathtaking tour-de-force by one of our most acclaimed writers. --This text refers to the paperback edition.