“This book was basically... born from notes that I have been keeping for many years, most often on small sheets of paper resembling candy wrappers, candy wrappers, on the blank side of which the hero of my novel “Lines of Fate, or Chest” liked to write down a flashing thought or impression Milashevich" - this is how Booker Prize winner (1991) Mark Kharitonov writes about this book. On its pages, he reflects on his time and human life, on art and literature, remembers his departed friends - the poet and human rights activist Ilya Gabai, the sculptor Vadim Sidur, the poet David Samoilov and others. The book, published in French translation, was awarded in France the prize for the best foreign essay book of 1997.