Great knowledge of life is always an advantage for a writer, and Mikhail Kerbel knows what he writes about firsthand. His gripping novel is devoted to events of the 1970s that took place in the south of multiethnic Ukraine, where pogroms and conflicts between Gypsies, Russians, and Ukrainians—along with lawlessness by the local authorities—reached unprecedented proportions. In the center of these events is a romantic and talented young lawyer, Mark, from a provincial town. A collision with a ruthless prosecution system and the career ambitions of high-ranking officials sharply derails the young man’s fate. Danger, betrayal, love, and the fight for survival—everything that makes up a true drama keeps the reader’s attention from the first to the last page.