The novel “Bitter Herbs” takes place in the 1940s–1950s in one of the central regions of Russia, in a Bryansk village. The author returns to impressions from his youth. The novel’s heroes, who have returned from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, from partisan units, and from captivity, join the difficult work of rebuilding the economy destroyed by the enemy.
“I could never forget that thirst to build that seized people after the Germans were driven out… That autumn, everyone was building: children, women, the elderly—everyone was gripped by one feeling and one impulse.” (Proskurin P. Autobiographical story “The Threshold of Love”)