The novel belongs to the genre of human comedy. The heroes are trying to build their lives in accordance with certain ideas and rules, but fate, fate, and the course of history constantly interfere, and they have to start all over again. The author puts his characters in unthinkable, but very real situations that require constant reflection regarding the meaning and ethics of each of their steps and actions. The main characters are Jews, and not only because they are fellow tribesmen of the author. The 20th century placed Jews in special conditions, especially in Eastern Europe, which includes Lithuania: they were forced to move from a closed communal culture to a European culture, survive the Holocaust, find a way of existence under Soviet power that unexpectedly fell upon them with its state anti-Semitism and Stalinist persecution - and all this within the life of one generation. How do love, friendship, family, and the human psyche withstand such blows of fate? Can normal human relationships be maintained under these circumstances?

Anna Isakova is a journalist, writer, and doctor by training. She has been writing prose since a young age; until now she has only published short stories. The novel “Ah, this black moon!” first published in the magazine “Zvezda” (second and third issues for 2004) and presented by the editors of the magazine for the Booker Prize.

Originally from Lithuania. In 1966 she graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the State University in Vilnius. In 1971, after a three-year struggle with the authorities, she left the USSR for Israel. Lives in Jerusalem. She worked as a doctor, journalist, editor, and was an adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel. I have written five books in recent years. The first to be presented to the reader is “Oh, this black moon!”