The thirteenth volume of the Collected Works of V.P. Astafiev includes those written by him in 1987-1997. a story about the difficult post-war life - “The Cheerful Soldier”, the text of the story “Gudgeon Fishing in Georgia” completely restored by the author with an afterword, a version of the story “Starodub” (1958-1959), as well as excerpts not included in the publications from those written at different times the stories “Theft”, “Starfall”, “The Jolly Soldier”, the novel “Cursed and Killed” and short stories. The volume also includes plays by V. P. Astafiev - “Bird cherry” and “Forgive me”, which were performed on Russian stages, and two literary scripts for films - “Thou shalt not kill” and “Crack” (the first was written in collaboration with E. Fedorovsky) . The volume ends with the lyrical composition “From the Quiet Light” - an attempt at confession.