دانلود کتاب All The World’s A Stage

While his formidable intelligence and athleticism have been applied to shooting, sword play, unarmed combat and odd skills such as tightrope walking, plus absorbing many languages and cultures, he has also adjusted his spiritual life, to some minor extent exchanging physical strength for inner stability as he ages.

By 1911 he is in his mid-50s and can clearly see the approaching crisis which will tear both Russia and Europe apart. But Russian society chooses to ignore the growing clouds in a shower of champagne bubbles and artistic excesses. Fandorin is contacted by his friend, Chekhov’s widow, who is concerned by a confession she has heard from Eliza Altairsky-Lointaine, the toast of Moscow, a beautiful actress with an increasingly infamous theatre troupe.

Her life is as colourful as the parts she plays. Pursued by a succession of suitors, she is the estranged wife of a descendant of Genghis Khan. Her husband has threatened to kill anyone who courts her and when a poisonous snake is found in a bouquet she receives on stage, he appears to be fulfilling that promise. Fandorin goes to watch the actress for the first time – and falls desperately in love.

This mid-life crisis – his previous love affairs both ended tragically – sees him lose his confidence and doubt his own razor-sharp mind as he wonders if he should love again or if his love might be returned. His internal struggle with his emotions only serves to make him realise perfection is impossible and that he is only human.

All this is set against a background of a series of murders inspired by – and related to – the beautiful and talented Eliza and her company of artistes. A witty pastiche of life behind the stage curtain, the petty jealousies and competition among the players as well as their sense of camaraderie, make the story vivid and a score of red herrings and plot twists will keep readers guessing.