The novel “Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman”, in the exact words of Maya Kucherskaya, is a story about the fate of a family of Old Believers, abandoned at the beginning of the last century in the Baltic region, settled there, survived wars, ruin, losses and everything by the blue sea. survivors, saved by their own loyalty to the simplest, but most important values. “...This story grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go until the end of the novel. Lively, sometimes comical, sometimes tragic characters, “delicious” dialect, funny and accurate “family words”, touching love and great Russian patience - all this immediately touches the soul. Wonderful language. The piercing clarity of being. Continuity of family and memory - everything that a real Reader yearns for now...” (Dina Rubina).* * *The first edition of the novel was published in 2006 by Hermitage Publishers (Schuylkill Haven, PA, USA)