“An Illegal Story of Love” is a subtle, elegant, witty story and a novel about something that the reader never loses interest in—the relationships between women and men. According to Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Sakhnovsky “has a rare gift for describing what does not lie on the surface, but constitutes the volatile essence of what is happening.” Igor Sakhnovsky is the first laureate of the “Russian Decameron” for a cycle of stories. His works were included in the shortlists of the National Bestseller, Big Book, and Russian Booker awards.