Barbara - who is she? What do they know about her in Russia today? The lady in black, poet, composer and singer - in France she is idolized to this day. This song by Barbara was heard at the funeral ceremony after the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015: in moments of testing, people turn to what is their soul code. It was a whole generation of French intellectuals who followed her from concert to concert across Europe. Maurice Bejart always carried her photograph with him. After hearing her album for the first time, Mikhail Baryshnikov began to learn French. With her famous song dedicated to her fans, “My Love Story is You,” Yves Saint Laurent said goodbye to the public forever. Jacques Brel adored her and filmed her, Gérard Depardieu wrote memoirs about her, today her songs are in the repertoire of Carla Bruni and many other performers. The book of the famous theater critic Nina Agisheva is an attempt to solve the riddle of Barbara and resurrect the time of high romanticism in art, to awaken Russian readers and listeners are interested in her songs, which have found their place in the new century.