About the book: 2002 / "...According to contemporaries, none of the portraits conveyed the true appearance of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. “He was a rather tall man with a thick build, a brunette with small sparkling brown eyes and the most pleasant, good-natured expression on his face.” On the thumb of his right hand, Bestuzhev wore a massive silver ring, like the Circassians wore, - with its help, the tight triggers of pistols were cocked. The writer Polevoy sent the exiled poet a white downy hat, which at that time was a sure sign of a carbonari... This was the appearance!…»