At the heart of Maria Rybakova’s novel, famous for her verse novel “Gnedich,” is the real story of the Russian child prodigy poet Nika Turbina—who began writing adult poems while still a child, became world-famous, and then, unable to withstand the fame, died. But Nika is only one of the possible prototypes. In the image of her heroine, Rybakova combines features of her generation and writes about the tragic phenomenon of the Poet in the modern world.
The engaging, plot-driven novel by Rybakova not only helps reinterpret the events of past years, but also raises the most important theme: humanity’s responsibility for creative people, without whom no civilization can exist.