Sergei Dovlatov is one of the most popular and widely read Russian writers of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. In 1989, he selected fifteen of his best stories for an anniversary collection - a year later the writer would have turned fifty years old. Life decreed differently. Dovlatov did not live to see his anniversary and did not see the book he compiled come out of print. Now this collection is in front of you - the last book of Sergei Dovlatov, fifteen works that, according to the author, most accurately reflect his style, and, as we now know, fail the result of his remarkable work.