“The Fortress of Doubt” is a novel that has not yet appeared in modern Russian literature. The reader is presented with a work whose genre cannot be determined: it is both an adulterous novel and a novel exploring Russian history. A geographical map with mysterious names, drawn at the beginning of the Civil War in an officer's notebook, turns out to be a bridge between the past and the present for the main characters of the novel. Constant changes of focus and almost cinematic editing of episodes create a rare presence effect. This, in the full sense of the word, big book promises to be an event in literary life.