I Was
the Tsar
From Ivan the Terrible to our present, a single voice recounts five centuries of Russian power from the inside — and we do not, at first, know who it is.
Je fus le Tsar — A Russian Soul is a forthcoming French-language novel by Franck Lavoyer, the Russian volume of the « Je fus le Président » series.
A land, a crown, and the long pull between the sacred state and untamed freedom.
From Ivan the Terrible and the gathering of the lands to Peter and his empire, from the revolutions of 1917 to the Soviet century and our own present, each era becomes a scene, each reign a trial — carried by one lucid, melancholy, often wry voice, all the way to a question that burns in our own time.
The novel is being written, and the complete English site is being prepared. In the meantime, read the opening, or write to us — for press, rights, or to be notified.