At the time of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Evgeniy Orel lived in Pripyat and worked in the city financial department. “Black and White Chernobyl” was written on the basis of the author’s impressions and is at the intersection of a documentary story and journalism, representing partly a cross-section of society in the mid-80s of the last century. The technical side of the disaster is almost not touched upon in the work. Having given the title of the story the modest subtitle “Notes of an Everyman,” the author focuses on the psychological aspects of the post-accident period. Here there is decency, and dishonesty, and tragedy, and love, because such is life in its complexity and diversity.