In this book, Canadian writer and specialist in Russian literature Pierre-Louis Gagnon lifts the veil on some of the secrets associated with the award of the Nobel Prize to Ivan Bunin, who became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize. ...There were two real contenders - Maxim Gorky, who supported Stalin, and Ivan Bunin, who emigrated after the October Revolution. Among the supporters of each were those who were ready to do anything to ensure victory for their candidate. At the center of the unfolding intrigue is the USSR Ambassador to Sweden Alexandra Kollontai. Following the instructions of the Kremlin, she is trying to use all connections in the political and literary circles of Sweden in order to tip the scales in favor of the proletarian writer. But influencing the Nobel Committee is not so easy, and its members give preference to Ivan Bunin. In the midst of this positional struggle, a Russian exile living in the south of France suddenly disappears. Is this not the machinations of the OGPU and its agents from the Comintern, with whom all European capitals are flooded? The brewing scandal could cause irreparable damage to the prestige of the Nobel Prize...