The work “Malyuta Skuratov” became Nikolai Geintse’s first historical novel. At the center of the story is the cruel favorite of the formidable Tsar Ivan IV, who struck fear into his contemporaries—Grigory Skuratov-Belsky, nicknamed Malyuta Skuratov. An oprichnik of the Tsar, inflamed by passion for the daughter of a respectable princely family, tries to take her by any means, spilling blood of innocent people. By revealing the true motives behind Malyuta’s rashness, the author gives the dark figure of Russian history human traits.