Countess Maria Eduardovna Kleinmichel is a secular lady from the high society of the Russian Empire, who survived three emperors during her long life and personally knew many people who left a mark in history. Having gone from a young lady-in-waiting to an elderly hostess of a St. Petersburg salon, who received aristocrats, ministers, generals and diplomats in a friendly way, she found herself involved in many secrets of political life. She was already over 70 years old when 1917 changed life in Russia forever. Once in exile, Countess Kleinmichel considered it her duty to write memoirs about the "sunken world" of the Russian Empire, because she had something to remember.