The second part of Tamara Petkevich’s memoirs “Life is an odd boot” was published under the title “Against the backdrop of stars and fear” and became a continuation of the first book. The narrative covers the years after liberation from the camp. Everything that was left unsaid: unfinished destinies, unfinished portraits, broken threads of human relationships, received its completion. The desired freedom that was dreamed of in the camp barracks returned the right to a normal existence and became the beginning of a new life, but it did not relieve either the terrible ghosts of the past or the pain due to the inability to return what was forever taken away by captivity. The book was published in 2008, fifteen years after the publication of the first part, and went through a number of reprints and was translated into German. Based on the book, a play was staged in St. Petersburg; Tamara Petkevich became the winner of several literary awards: “Steep Staircase”, “Petropol”, Gogol Prize. After reading the book, Tatyana Gerdt said: “I am a very happy person, the Lord sent me wonderful people all the time. But I had two human shocks in my life: Tvardovsky and Tamara Petkevich. This is not camp literature. This is Russian literature. This is what gives you strength to live.” The publishing design is preserved in PDF A4 format.