What does Russian literature know about the gypsies? We remember the story of Aleko and Zemfira from Pushkin’s early poem, the legend of the old woman Izergil or Grusha from the story by Nikolai Leskov. However, the image of Gypsies in literary texts was often constructed on the basis of exotic stereotypes. The novel “The Formula of Everything” by Dmitry Faleev and Evgenia Varenkova maintains a connection with the traditions of Russian classics, but at the same time goes against them: the world of gypsy culture, its inhabitants and their folklore make up an integral and authentic artistic universe of the book. Old man Musha Khristoforov goes on a journey to marry his eldest grandson Drago to the beautiful Vorzha. In the adventures that await the heroes along this path, they will be helped by the brownie Kakarandjes, one of the last representatives of his unusual family. This fantasy, written with ethnographic attention to the culture of the gypsies, does not just entertain the reader with exoticism and adventure: for the heroes, each plot twist is associated with new painful questions and fundamental problems. Dmitry Faleev is a writer, journalist, laureate of the Debut Prize. As an amateur ethnographer, he studied the culture and life of the Roma. Evgenia Varenkova is a writer and playwright.