Lyudmila Ulitskaya's characters constantly balance on the edge and manage to live several lives at once - human, animal, children's, adults. A whole gallery of portraits: the special girl Darling, the Lonely Mouse, the blind watchmaker, the Antwerp sparrow, Genele the bagwoman... They are capable of love and compassion for their neighbors, small deeds and great gifts. Here every poor person can become a Savior. The book includes the cycles of stories “Poor Relatives”, “Childhood-49”, “Stories about Animals and People”.