Igor Sakhnovsky is a prose writer and author of novels «Vital Needs of the Dead» and «The Man Who Knew Everything» (awarded the B. Strugatsky Prize «Bronze Snail»; filmed in 2008), and «The Conspiracy of Angels». He also wrote story collections «The Lucky Ones and the Madmen» (the «Russian Decameron» award) and «A Sharp Feeling of Saturday».
«Freedom by Default» is a novel about love and the inner freedom of a «private» person, who by chance gets drawn into political absurdity. A delicate, almost invisible line separates the life of a modest, unlucky clerk Turbanov from the world of those in power; poverty from enormous money; law-abidingness from crime; a holiday from the end of the world. One day, while saving his beloved woman, he crosses that line.