“The Old Age of the Jackal” is a story first published in the literary magazine “Volga”. The hero of the story, an elderly “plucker,” leaves prison at the turn of the era, when the old world (including the thieves’ world) collapsed, and the new world is cruel and alien even to a pickpocket. In the story “Dedicated to Pat”, which was longlisted for two prestigious literary awards - “National Bestseller” and “Russian Prize”, one can see a simple and at the same time merciless idea that this world is not a place for a measured and predictable life. . Even if you live in the most conservative country in the world, in Good Old England. In England, which has long been no longer Wonderland, and you yourself are not Caroline’s Alice, but an ordinary girl from the province who has just lost her parents and to whom the world with equal ease gives a unique chance and takes away her last hope.