Umberto Eco is the most famous Italian writer, cultural historian, philosopher, mass media expert, linguist, semiologist, university professor, member of leading global academies, laureate of major international awards, Chevalier of the Grand Cross and the Legion of Honor, founder and editor of scientific and artistic journals, a prominent collector of ancient books, and novelist, one of the most important authors of our time. The action unfolds almost entirely in France, but the consequences of this intrigue will later tragically shock the entire world. Russia, where the famous literary forgery 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' was first published in 1905, soon becomes the center of events. The novel documents the efforts by which this forgery was created. The protagonist is utterly vile, and everything that happens to him is both terrifying and fascinating. The author, constructing a plot in the spirit of Alexandre Dumas, drags the breathless reader through fetid Parisian sewers and bandit dens, recruits the hero into Garibaldian forces, forces him to spy for all the intelligence and counterintelligence agencies of the world, including the Russian secret police, tame hysterical women from Dr. Charcot's clinic, drink beer with Sigmund Freud, parade alongside Liberty on the barricades, and even participate in a Satanic mass. At the same time, as always, Umberto Eco imparts to the reader, within the guise of an adventure novel, a vast supply of knowledge and ideas.