The book that the reader is holding in his hands was compiled in memory of Elena Georgievna Bonner, who owns the phrase “life was typical, tragic and beautiful” in the subtitle. Most of our fellow citizens know Elena Georgievna as the wife of Academician A.D. Sakharov, as his comrade-in-arms and assistant. This is understandable - they had to go through too many trials during the 20 years that they were together. But the fate of Elena Georgievna goes beyond the wife and comrade-in-arms of a great man. This is the subject of this book, consisting of three sections: (I) A biography told through a montage of her own autobiographical texts and fragments of A. D. Sakharov’s “Memoirs,” (II) memories of E. G. Bonner, (III) a number of key documents and several articles by Elena Georgievna herself. Finally, this section contains a selection compiled by Tatyana Yankelevich, “My Mother’s Favorite Poems”: literature and, especially, poetry played a big role in Elena Georgievna’s life.