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Timo von Bocks release by the Czar from nine years incarceration does not spell the end of the Barons troubles: he is confined to his Livonian estate to live under the constant eye of police informers planted among his own household- and is subjected to endless humiliations. It is claimed that he is a madman and in need of protection: a man would need to be insane- after all- to have taken a Czar at his word when asked for a candid appraisal of the states infirmities.From the year of his release from prison and return to his wife Eeva- a woman of peasant stock to whom- with her brother Jakob- he has given a solid education- the Barons life is recorded in a secret journal by this same Jakob- a shrewd and observant house-guest.Reconstructing the events leading up to the Barons incarceration in 1818 and subsequent to his release in 1827- Jakob little by little brings to light mysteries surrounding the Czars madman. Was his madness genuine? What was the secret understanding between him and his boon companion Czar Alexander I- who committed him to prison?In The Czars Madman Jaan Kross weaves together the elements of intrigue surrounding those historical characters who survived in post-Napoleonic Russia- and by a skillful shifting of chronology and viewpoints- creates a superbly rich and moving narrative.Winner of Frances Best Foreign Book Award....