About the book: 2011 / A. I. Sokolova, who wrote under the catchy pseudonym Blue Domino, was well known in newspaper Moscow at the end of the 19th century. She collaborated in Katkov’s “Moskovskie Vedomosti”, Skvortsov’s “Russian Vedomosti” and others. The writer’s historical novel “The Tsar’s Fortune-telling”, which aroused the interest of the mass reader, was first published as a free supplement of the Rodina magazine in St. Petersburg in 1909. 19th century - one of the alarming pages in the history of the Russian state. After the dramatic events of 1825, Nicholas I gripped the reins of complex rule with a firm hand. Meanwhile, after the rebellion on Senate Square, the fragile health of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, whom the emperor loved with every fiber of his soul, could not be restored. After the birth of her last daughter, all the doctors unanimously condemned her to complete celibacy. The Emperor meekly obeyed and in intimate conversations sadly called himself a “straw widower.” Of course, this widowhood was observed without particular severity. One of Nicholas I’s serious hobbies, his love for the famous actress Varvara Asenkova, is described in the novel “The Tsar’s Fortune Telling.”».