At first glance, Sofia Stanislavovna Pilyavskaya (1911–2000), a wonderful actress and dazzlingly beautiful woman, had a happy destiny. Very young, she entered the Moscow Art Theater stage, her teachers were K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, she was loved by O. L. Knipper-Chekhova and the Bulgakov family. The public admired her talent, the government awarded her orders and titles. Her students became outstanding actors. She appeared in few films, but viewers remember her from the films “Conspiracy of the Doomed,” “Everything Remains to the People,” and “Pokrovsky Gate.” However, this brilliant life had its downside: depressing, carefully hidden poverty; father's arrest in the terrible 1937; the death of a beloved brother and sister in war; a series of deaths - husband, mother, friends, colleagues... And then new times came, to which we had to get used. But she didn’t know how to adapt... The title “Theatrical Novel” would probably have suited this book - if it had not already been given to another, the one that the brilliant author once read aloud to a few chosen friends, among whom was Sofya Stanislavovna Pilyavskaya. But “Sad Book” is also a suitable name. Because, written vividly and ironically, this book is indeed very sad. The fates of many of her heroes were very tragic. And yet, in the memoirs of S. S. Pilyavskaya there is no feeling of hopelessness. It was not typical of her at all - a courageous and noble woman, a real Actress. The publishing house thanks K. S. Diadorova-Filippova, B. A. Diadorova. House-Museum of K. S. Stanislavsky and personally G. G. for their help in working on the book Schneiter. Series design by E. Velchinsky. Artist N. Velchinskaya.