The Russian court glitters with candlelight, but every chamber casts a shadow toward the throne.

Russia has triumphed over Frederick the Great, but the death of Empress Elizaveta has unsettled the fragile order. Her heir, Peter III, worships the defeated Prussian king, humiliating his own court and risking the empire for dreams that are not Russia’s. Catherine, his German-born wife, looks on as the country turns against him—and as the soldiers around her begin to think of another future.

But there is another claimant beyond the glittering palace world. Ivan VI was crowned as an infant, deposed before he could speak, and hidden for life in the fortress of Schlisselburg. Broken by imprisonment, he has almost nothing left except the one thing that cannot be ignored: a rightful claim to the throne.

Written in iambic pentameter, Ivan VI is a Shakespearean-scale historical drama set amid the court intrigue of 18th-century Russia. It follows the rise of Catherine the Great as Frederick casts a shadow over Russia, where only the fool sees clearly what others dare not speak.