For the first time in Russian - the latest epic saga from the brilliant John Irving, author of such world bestsellers as “The World from Garp” and “Hotel New Hampshire”, “The Cider House Rules” and “Son of the Circus”, “A Prayer According to Owen Meany” and “Men not in her life.” The vicissitudes of fate (for example, the accidental killing of a bear with an eight-inch copper frying pan, which turned out to be not a bear at all) drive the book’s heroes, an Italian cook and his son (in the future - a famous writer), from the town of lumberjacks and rafters, surrounded by deaf northern forests, to one glittering metropolis after another. But they have no peace anywhere, because a ruthless policeman named Cowboy with his old Colt is on their trail...

John Irving should have been born Russian. Because that’s how Russian classics of the 19th century wrote - long, slowly, with an abundance of characters, plot lines and psychological details. He doesn't know how to write faster or shorter. Irving must tell everything about the heroes and their relatives, because every detail is important to him. Time Out American John Irving has an amazing ability to express himself in parables: any of his books is not at all about what it seems. Expert Irving has not lost one bit of his tragicomic talent, and some episodes of this book are among the most memorable that came from his pen. New York Times Perhaps, of all the writers to whose names the label of “bestselling author” is firmly attached, none evokes such sympathy as John Irving, a postmodernist with a human face, a comedian and (it's scary to think!) a fundamentalist moralist. Book showcase Irving assembles this novel like a master watchmaker - fitting precious, finely crafted parts to one another without room for error. Houston Chronicle Irving's characters lure us onto thin ice and force us perform a fancy dance on it. It is unlikely that any living writer can compare with him in the ability to see literature in all its magical diversity. The Washington Post Book World An all-knowing and caustic postmodernist and adept of magical realism, standing shoulder to shoulder with Günter Grass, Gabriel García Márquez and Robertson Davis. Time Out