Manechka, or Don't Rush to Lose Weight

Her overweight and short stature were complemented by a round face freckled with spots. They called her Manyasha, and no one believed that this human oddity—already thirty-three—could ever find female happiness. But how often, behind an unremarkable facade at first glance, there can be a truly delicate and beautiful soul! And it’s surprising that fate doesn’t care at all who it hands its gifts to—an ugly girl or a beauty.

Ariadna Borisova is the daughter of seven bloodlines. She studied by correspondence at the East Siberian Institute of Culture. Her specialization was directing mass celebrations. Her first stories were published in the magazine “Polar Star,” and around the same time she began doing translation work. She worked as a journalist for the republican newspaper “Yakutia.” She was a laureate of the republican award “Golden Pen,” a distinguished worker of culture in RS(Я). On December 29, 2000, she became the last writer of Yakutia of the previous century. She was admitted to the Writers’ Union of Russia. Author of 14 plays for youth and children’s theatre—12 of them were staged. She translated into Russian about 400 works by Yakutia authors—two novels, several novellas, fairy tales, stories, and poems. Most of her books (textbooks and works by other authors) she illustrated herself or together with the artist V. Noeva.