“Sometimes I ask myself why I need an outside figure to write: mother, father, Svetlana. Why can't I write about myself? Because I am the basis of the reflective surface of the mirror. Metal spraying. You can peer at the back of a mirror for a long time and see nothing but fine glittering dust. I reflect reality." Oksana Vasyakina completes the autofiction trilogy that began with the books “The Wound” and “The Steppe” with a novel in which she tries to unravel the mystery of the short, almost weightless life of her aunt Svetlana. From small fragments of memory, a complex image is formed, in which difficult relationships with the mother, everyday disorder and indifference to one’s own fate coexist with almost childish vulnerability and purity. But the further the heroine plunges into the story about Svetlana, the more she realizes the inextricable connection with her and the more she learns about herself and the nature of her writing. Oksana Vasyakina is a writer, laureate of the Lyceum (2019) and NOS (2021) awards.