This collection of interconnected short stories chronicles a number of different perspectives and experiences across modern Russian history, from Communist Russia in the 1930s to Russia in the 21st Century.
This story is set in 1937 and chronicles the story of Roman Markin. Markin causes the death of his brother and is paralyzed with feelings of guilt. As an artist, he expresses himself through his art and begins to include his brother into all his paintings.
A Prisoner of Caucasus
This story is about a prisoner of war called Kolya, who later dies at the end of the story. Marra's next story follows on from this, where Alexei learns about Kolya's death 10 years later. As such, we can see how these stories are interconnected and are related to the story before them in the collection.
