The only book by the remarkable writer Dina Brodskaya turned out to be astonishingly kind and bright, pure and sincere.
This is a story about childhood, which never tires of rejoicing and dreaming in any era.
Eight-year-old Mariyka is a “kitchen girl,” the cook’s daughter. In the little clearing in the yard of the house where she lives, the children of the rich and the poor play together. This densely populated yard and its diverse inhabitants resemble a small model of pre-revolutionary Russia. However, the tragic events of the early twentieth century increasingly divide both children and adults into two camps — the inhabitants of the basements and the residents of the upper floors. But the eyes of the sweet and clever girl Mariyka see the world around her clearly and brightly, so there is no anguish in the novella and no intrusive propaganda for any of the opposing sides.