The new book by the famous writer and playwright Leonid Zorin consists of works of recent years: published in 2006–2008 in Novy Mir and Znamya. All of them are written in Zorin’s favorite genre of the small novel, most of them as an extended monologue. Collected together, they reveal the integrity of the author’s plan: uniting different eras - past, present and future, capital and province, near and far abroad, the most diverse and dissimilar heroes - people who have gone down in history forever, and those who create it every day - each of them has their own love affair with life.