“Three years spent searching, deciphering and understanding the documents convinced me that nothing in these archives could either discredit or vulgarize Chekhov. The result is just the opposite: the complexity and depth of the writer’s figure become even more obvious when we are able to explain his human strengths and weaknesses,” this is the position of the book’s author, famous British literary critic, professor at the University of London Donald Rayfield. Unique in its scale, the biographical study is an exhaustive biography of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Written in a light and relaxed manner and at the same time academic, it is essentially a real sensation.