The Name of Hero by Richard Seltzer

An historical novel based on the life of Alexander Bulatovich, a Russian who was an explorer in Ethiopia, a cavalry officer during Russia's conquest of Manchuria in 1900, and later, as a monk at Mount Athos, led a group of "heretics" who challenged the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, asserting the divinity of the Name of God. (Originally published by Tarcher/Houghton Mifflin.)

Set in early 20th century Manchuria, the Boxer Rebellion raging throughout the coutnry, the Name of Hero involves readers in the strange career of Alexander Xavierevich Bulatovich of His Majesty's Life Guard Hussar Regimetn. Plotted in the panoramic tradition of James Michener, this historical novel blends fact, fiction, and adventure. It tells of womena nd war, of turbulent events sparked off by religion and railroads, and the tension between facts and faith.

Emerging from an exotic backdrop of Manchurian deserts, Ethiopian elephant hunts, and Petersburg and its surrounding coutnryside, is the story of the enigmatic Bulatovich. Caught among three worlds -- Russia, Manchuria, and Ethiopia -- and three women ... he is forced to confront himself and others in a world that keeps shifting beneath his feet.