Nikolai Ogaryov, writing to Evgenya Tur, congratulated her with her son's success and expressed delight with the birth of 'a new fine Russian writer'.

During the years that preceded it, he worked as a lawyer and state official in Tula and Tambov, respectively, but also wrote Gavriil Derzhavin's biography (The Governor Poet, Поэт-наместник, 1871), a sentimental short novel Pandurochka (Пандурочка), and, most significantly, his first historical novel The Pugachov Men (Пугачёвцы), preceded by an extensive archive research, and visits to the sites of battles fought by Emelyan Pugachov's army.

Originally published by Russky vestnik in 1874, the novel enjoyed enormous success with the readership, but received mixed reviews, some critics accusing the author of choosing as a template Lev Tolstoy's War and Peace and following it too obviously.

Dozens of novels he wrote in 1880s-1890s (including The Orlov Brothers, The Foundling, The Volodimir Princess, The Don Spanyards, and Free Thinkers) only cemented Salias de Tournemire's reputation of the 'best-loved contemporary author in Russia'.

The interest in Russia for Salias de Tournemire's legacy rose sharply in the 1990s, numerous of his novels (notably, Million, Arakcheyev's Little Offspring and The Krutoyar Princess) were re-issued in 1995, to be followed by several compilations.