About the book: 1953 / The material in the story "A Trip to Christmastide" is autobiographical, as are the events discussed in Gagarin's most important work - the novel "The Return of the Cornet" . The motive of searching for Russia becomes the leading one in the novel. The main character of the novel is captured by the idea of ​​liberating his native country from the Bolsheviks, the forced revival of patriarchal culture. He rediscovers his native country, and what he sees amazes him. The new Russia is strikingly different from the familiar, old one. Not only the country has changed, the Russian people whom the hero met on the roads of life have also changed. Having returned to Russia after a long break, the hero of the novel is horrified that the new generation of Russian people does not know the Gospel. The main sign of the new Russia is destroyed churches and exiled priests. The image of the native land, the fate of Russia and the Russian people, reflection on the tragic changes in the life of the Motherland - this is the semantic basis, the framework of all the works of Yevgeny Gagarin. Russia becomes the main character of every story, story or novel of the writer. The writer himself belonged to “old” Russia, and in the 30s he repeated the fate of many compatriots, becoming an emigrant. It is on these facts that one of the most important conflicts in Gagarin’s prose is based - the conflict between old and new Russia.