The Magic Ball

The novella takes place in the second half of the 18th century during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. A highly educated man, a student of Lomonosov—Dmitry Rakitin—is literally obsessed with the idea of lifting a person into the air. After a series of experiments with a kite, Rakitin is declared a sorcerer, and the talented inventor ends up in confinement. But even behind the walls of a prison cell, he doesn’t give up his ideas—and creates a hot-air balloon, whose lift comes from hot air.