Maya Kucherskaya is a prose writer, philologist, teacher of Russian literature at the Higher School of Economics. Her latest book, “Aunt Motya,” provoked a lively discussion about the modern family novel and won the reader’s vote for the “BIG BOOK” award. “Crying for a Departed Art Teacher” is a dramatic story about how to overcome the darkness within yourself. Characters of very different kinds - an emigrant student, a monk, a young mother, an orphan boy - are caught at a turning point in their lives. The outcome is unknown, but this does not deprive the heroes of a sense of humor and hope that they will still be able to walk on water, dance on the roof and grow a tree from Bach's music.