The novel by the well-known pre-revolutionary prose writer, historian, and publicist Yevgeny Petrovich Karnovich (1824–1885) tells about the palace coups of 1740–1741 in Russia. The author focuses mainly on the personality of the “ruler”—Anna Leopoldovna—who ended up on the Russian throne after the death of Anna Ioannovna.
The novel “Love and the Crown” is devoted to a period of Russian history full of drama, when two young rival relatives each believed herself entitled to possess the Russian imperial crown. The supporters of the Tsarevna Elizabeth Petrovna, acting boldly and decisively, stripped power from Princess Anna Leopoldovna, who had been preparing to proclaim herself the reigning sovereign. The circumstances that preceded this coup and those that followed it form the basis of the novel’s plot.