The book about the wonderful poet Nikolai Rubtsov, lyricist and seer of his own destiny, is perhaps the most detailed biography to date. The wandering life, gossip and misunderstanding during life and especially the tragic death formed deposits of biased, unfair and speculative “memories” around Rubtsov. Who doesn’t want to be his friend these days! The author of the book offered to readers, Nikolai Konyaev, has deeply studied memories of “all sorts”, and archival evidence, and documents. His view of the poet’s fate and work is balanced and convincing, although lacking cold impartiality. The book is full of love and bitterness. And this makes it doubly interesting for the general reader. The book uses photographs from the personal archives of Anatoly Panteleev, Nikolai Konyaev and Stanislav Kunyaev.