Even documents lie. And Arkasha, a factory artist who chose a student girl as his confessor, lies every time when he talks about his sinful life, full of incredible adventures. And in the love story of Maskhara and the Russian girl there is a lot of stuff that is desirable, but impossible. And Serezha’s assessment of his wife and daughter suffers from distortion. And in the technique of love, the secrets of which the Professor reveals to his girlfriend, there is more pretense than sincerity. A lot of lies are present everywhere. But here’s what’s surprising: an artistic image is more truthful than a fact. The four stories by A. Berdichevskaya, included in this book, due to the masterfully created artistic images, give the impression of an accurate, historically correct statement about life.