Elena Armand's documentary narration does not fit into the genre framework: a novel? memoirs? More like a confession. In 1989, in one of the villages of the Tver region, a non-state rehabilitation center for orphans and disabled people was founded - the “salvation island” Lyubutka. Fifteen years of work are interpreted as a pedagogical tragedy: talented children turned into ordinary people, and the teacher became lonely. Armand's experience is not only of documentary, but also of artistic value, and her fate is a unique example of asceticism. The author's diary entries, letters and writings of teenagers vividly capture the state of public consciousness of the late 1980s–1990s. The book is addressed to each of us.