The Tangerine Forest

Natasha was born in a workers’ suburb where people drank, fought, and died young. She was doomed to repeat her mother’s fate and the fate of the other women around her. But life, as if sparing her, gave her a glimpse of happiness. And that happiness was her love for Chingiz, a young artist who, not even knowing it himself, became the father of her only child. He disappeared from her life as suddenly as he appeared, leaving behind a wonderful, magical picture in her memory: a mandarin grove where little orange “suns” of mandarins hang on huge, mighty trees, lighting the path for those who wander in search of happiness. All her life Natasha is warmed by memories of that love—so fleeting and yet so happy. And this love gives her the strength to believe that happiness will surely find her.