About the book: 2024 / In the alternative reality of Alexandra Shalashova’s new novel, the Soviet Union did not collapse, but its signs are not too noticeable to the heroes - they are experiencing a deep internal crisis and are immersed in memories of a catastrophe that happened to them in the past. However, the border between “remembering” and “forgetting” in this world is unsteady and arbitrary: here everyone can be exposed to the Reader, a neurocorrection device, and find themselves forgotten by everyone. They say ‹…› that a person who is interrogated with the help of a Reader is forgotten by everyone . He simply disappears from memory, as if he never existed. They say that this is merciful - that the wife will not remember her husband in prison, and therefore will not suffer. They say that this is one of the most important inventions of our time. Therefore, all significant people in a person’s life are certainly called to the court as witnesses. In the center is the story of the complex and painful relationship between teacher and student. The teacher promises Lesha a new life outside the orphanage - and creates a community of children united by the ideas of freedom and universal equality outside the state. Lesha becomes deeply and sincerely attached to the teacher, until one day he commits betrayal. It seems that only the Reader can help forget about betrayal. But what if the machine malfunctions and it becomes impossible to leave the past forever? The hero faces a difficult choice: remain an ordinary person or continue the path of his teacher? The reader, seeing his exactly open book, allows him to make this choice. What is happening to memory. It’s as if a puddle of darkness rose from the floor and covered him when he was not expecting it. But you need to think, train yourself even in the darkness - but only how can you do this when I’m not in it either, when I disappear on my own? For whom: For a wide range of readers: everyone interested in modern Russian-language prose.