The hero of the new book by Petrozavodsk prose writer Dmitry Novikov, Mikhail, for the first time encounters the solemn and austere beauty of the Russian North, and this forces him to once and for all reconsider his views on life, to abandon the escheat of urban existence and those illusory values by which people live in the capitals. The ancient magical power of the northern lands catches a person like a net, subjugating him and changing him. Tough and piercingly beautiful, like the very nature of the Russian North, Dmitry Novikov’s prose stands out against the background of modern Russian literature - like a healthy pine tree against the background of a regular garden.