What if the official history of Georgia’s first printing press is just a cover for a far more fantastical truth?

In The Peacock (A Pseudo-Historical Story), Aka Morchiladze offers a delightful alternative history regarding the introduction of the printing press to Georgia. Twisting "confirmed facts," the novel follows the trail of a press brought into the Georgian kingdoms, only for it to vanish mysteriously. The author acts as a detective investigating its fate, presenting intriguing theories populated by a cast of characters that blurs the line between reality and fiction: real kings, queens, and bishops mingle with invented princes, poets, travelers, and figures from Georgian folklore. It is a total phantasmagoria. While history books claim King Vakhtang VI established the first press in 1708, Morchiladze suggests the old stories—often dismissed by scholars as mere fairy tales—might hold the wilder, truer account.