Which God to Pray To

The action takes place in the North Caucasus—from the Civil War to the end of the Great Patriotic War. The book consists of two parts. The heroine of the first part is Darya, a Orthodox Kuban Cossack. Having lost her family, she marries a Pole, Leshek, and becomes Catholic. Giving birth to three sons, in a short time she loses both her husband and her children. The threat of famine during accelerated collectivization forces Darya, along with two friends, to flee from the Ust-Labinskaya stanitsa to the city of Grozny. There three Kuban Cossack women meet Chechens, with whom they begin a shared life. Darya leaves for the village of Goity, where she learns the Muslim faith and starts living according to the customs of the mountaineers.

The second part is devoted to Dokka, Darya’s stepson. It was written based on materials from his memoirs. Dokka, a participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, after being captured, recalls his short but eventful life just before the execution. A chain of incredible circumstances lets him pass through a series of ordeals and remain alive.