Serenity

The debut collection of stories by Fyodor Sheyd offers witty and touching tales united in a tragicomic series about life in modern Russia. A rookie reporter gets the assignment to write an article about a crocodile that died under the wheels of a truck. A famous comedian is accused of violence and desperately tries to save his career. A young, closed-in man drives his crazy neighbor to the hospital, where he accidentally meets a doctor with criminal ties—and ends up going on a night adventure with him. A brother and sister keep an eye on a mysterious person who, at night, destroys Soviet inscriptions. The book combines ruthless satire and absurd humor with unexpected human warmth—where sadness is replaced by joy, and everyday life is threaded with a faint breath of nothingness.