Mikhail Gigolashvili (b. 1954) - prose writer and philologist, author of the novels "Judea", "Tolmach", "Ferris Wheel" (choice of readers of the "Big Book" award), "The Capture of Muscovy" (shortlist of the NOS award) .“Secret Year” is about one of the most mysterious periods of Russian history, when Ivan the Terrible left the throne and shut himself up for a year in Alexander Sloboda. This is not a traditional "costume" novel, but rather a psychodrama with elements of phantasmagoria. The author needs a detailed description of two weeks from the life of Ivan IV in order to show from the inside the specifics of a painful consciousness, to understand the nature of power - beyond the characteristics of a particular historical era - and to answer the question: why is the figure of the formidable king again so relevant in the 21st century?The novel was shortlisted for the Big Book Prize and won the Russian Prize.