About the book: 2006 / The bitter smell of lonelinessWhat does the evening smell like? What does Venice smell like? What does the Zwinger smell like in Dresden? What does ancient Quidlenburg smell like? What does Vienna smell like? What do luxury hotels and Swarovski jewelry smell like? What does Bruegel's "Hunters in the Snow" smell like? What does September smell like? What does love smell like? They smell like loneliness. They smell of the loneliness of the heroine of Svetlana Khmelkovskaya’s book “The Smell of Evening.” No, naturally, Lilya, the heroine of the book, a modern young woman, is sophisticated in the subtle, refined smells of famous Viennese cafes, and the fishy smell of restaurants near the Rialto Bridge in Venice, and in subtle smells expensive wines and perfumes, and in the antiquity-infused smells of ancient European cities, the smells of pre-Christmas markets. It seems that this is one of her most expensive collections - a collection of smells. What an aesthetic gourmet - collecting smells, going on trips to get smells! Traveling with the heroine of Svetlana Khmelkovskaya is interesting and exciting. She is a thoughtful and unfussy companion. With her it’s good to stand in front of Bellini’s “Madonnas” and in front of Raphael’s “Madonna”, with her it’s good to slowly walk through the narrow streets of European cities and hear the rustle of a gondolier’s oar along the dark water of Venetian canals. Admire the confidence with which she enters imposing hotels and tries on elegant dresses and jewelry... So is this another book about the modest charm of the bourgeoisie? A glamorous romance novel? Even if the text proposed by Svetlana Khmelkovskaya were limited to this, one could say: “Well, thank you for the skillfully and captivatingly written travel novel, including a list of cities, museums, hotels, wines, and gourmet dishes! .." But how many such fascinating reads have appeared in recent years in the form of books and spreads in glossy magazines? And for a young writer to compete with the authors of “The Aspern Letters” or “Death in Venice” in describing the magical city is a futile effort. Yes, she doesn’t pretend to be. Her heroine has her own Venice and her own worries. There is in this book, under the brilliance of material wealth, the ability to make and fulfill ladies' whims and desires, something that touches, like a kind of splinter, that does not let go of the reader. A certain nerve. This is the homeless soul of the heroine. And the more prosperous the body, the greater the opportunities that open up in the future - in a comfortable, smiling Europe, exuding exquisite smells - the more Lily’s restless soul resists this. Actually, the story is a monologue, a confession of the heroine Svetlana Khmelkovskaya, addressed to herself. “Orgasm of the soul,” according to her own definition. By the way, this formula, successfully found by the author, also applies to the perception of beauty and art. The body caressed by European comfort in an unequal duel is opposed by the restless thought of the heroine, directed and staying there, at home, where passers-by are unsmiling, where there is more rudeness than cold politeness, where she doomed to everyday worries, even more humiliating after European stability and confidence... But there, at home, is my mother, there are the only friends in the world. There is the hometown with its smells of the sea, acacias, childhood memories. There is a unique and bitter love... A person who has the right to choose is free. But how painful is the freedom of choice! And if only between the duel of body and soul. And then the body begins to resist, it does not want the possession of a stranger, someone else’s hugs, someone else’s caresses, officially legalized, giving the only opportunity to remain in European prosperity... What is it that this attractive and prosperous woman is so itching for? What tears her between two worlds - her own, unkempt, restless, with everyday problems, with uncertainty about the future, and the European order of life, with order, confidence, stability calculated for years to come? What will she choose in the end - her home or a huge, well-groomed, but alienated world that has not become home to her?..I picked up the manuscript of the first thing in my life