This book is quite unusual. This is a fantastic novel, which at the same time is a historical narrative, revealing to us the true picture of life in Russia and neighboring states in the second half of the 17th century. The fate of the hero of the novel, Semyon, is truly amazing. Born in a remote Tula village, he is captured by nomads and ends up in a slave market... For twenty years he walked the roads of the East, visited Mecca and Jerusalem, on the banks of the Ganges and Nanjing. Sometimes his neck was burdened by a slave’s collar, sometimes a Janissary’s blade shone in his hands, but he retained the Orthodox faith and the memory of home in his heart. And it happened! Miraculously, Semyon was transported from the hot sands of Rubel Khali to his native land. But there is no longer a home, no former faith... Only hatred for old and new offenders boils in Semyon’s soul. And again he hits the road...