Stanley Ilnats is sure that his family is unlucky because their family is cursed by an old gypsy. On false charges, the boy ends up in the Green Lake correctional camp. Only the lake has long since dried up, and the scorched desert in its place is dotted with holes, which the pupils are forced to dig under the scorching sun - supposedly to strengthen their will. However, the camp director has other goals - she is clearly looking for something. What is hidden at the bottom of the mysteriously disappeared lake? And how is this connected with the curse of the Ilnats family? In the novel, like mirages in the desert, pictures of the past arise and intertwine with reality, and black humor keeps the reader in suspense until the last line. The book “The Pits” has earned recognition all over the world. Children from different countries read it, and now it has appeared here!