Alexandra Vladimirovna Shchepkina (1824–1917) - writer, wife of N. M. Shchepkin, son of the famous Russian actor M. S. Shchepkin, sister of the writer, philosopher and literary critic N. V. Stankevich. Alexandra Vladimirovna was a woman of progressive views, widely educated. She was engaged in journalism and, with some success, tried her hand at literary creativity: she has written several historical novels, as well as a series of children's stories for extracurricular reading, written in lively figurative language. In addition, she left interesting memoirs (including “M. S. Shchepkin in the family and on stage”). This volume presents two historical works by the writer. The novel “The Boyars of Starodub” depicts the last years of the reign of the second tsar from the house of Romanov, Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest, and the accession of his son Fyodor after his death, as well as the most important events of that time - the Chigirin campaign and the schism of the Russian church. The novel “At Dawn” is dedicated to the era of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the birth of the Russian theater and the role played by this artistically gifted empress in the development of the country’s culture and science.