Vladimir Sharov - writer and historian, author of the cult novels “Rehearsals”, “Before and During”, “The Old Girl”, “Be Like Children” - was never afraid to lose his reputation as a serious prose writer. A favorite technique is historical reality, as if turned upside down, while at the same time not deviating one step from biblical stories. The new novel “Return to Egypt” is a story in letters from a family related to... Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. 20th century, a string of people, happy and unhappy destinies, before the revolution, annual gatherings in a Little Russian estate to stage and play “The Government Inspector” together, later - someone died, others left, others hid. And - strange, passed down from generation to generation idea - if the classic had completed his poem “Dead Souls”, Russian history would have taken a different path...