Nature was the first to rebel. The summer of 1916 roared with thunderstorms, wind in the face, and icy rain from the sky. But people barely noticed the weather. War was on everyone's lips, interfering with creativity, study, love, life, dividing society into two camps. Revolution already loomed in the electrified air; yet the Tsar, who had unleashed the war, did not notice. He trusted his own newspapers, followed battles in the movies, and worried most about his family...

Here is a documentary cross-section of the epoch through the letters, emotions, and thoughts of the participants; but we also rise above the fray - the finest threads connecting all our heroes are especially visible from above: from the emperor to the poet, from the military doctor to the poor peasant woman. These threads intertwined into the fuse of the future revolution, ignited by the summer lightning of 1916.

The book is inspired by the work of German writer Florian Illies "1913: The Summer of the Century."