The time of Ivan V Alekseevich is almost unknown. His entire quiet and short life passed in the background of turbulent historical events. Although Ivan was called the “senior tsar” (“Peter” was considered the youngest), he almost never dealt with state affairs. In 1682–1689 for him, Princess Sophia ruled Russia. The novel by the writer-historian R. Gordin “Tsars... princes... princesses...” tells of a complex and contradictory period in the history of Russia, when the centuries-old way of life began to collapse and the upheavals of the Peter the Great era were just around the corner. The book traces the fates of historical characters whose names are inseparable from the turbulent events of that time.