About the book: 1996 / Elena Katasonova needs no introduction. Her story “The Indian Age...”, translated into many languages, turned out to be close to readers from different countries: the heroine of the story with her whole life refutes the famous Russian proverb. All the works included in this book are dedicated to the eternal theme of love. Elena Katasonova was not included, but burst into literature with her young, temperamental and outrageously frank novel “Who Needs the Blue Bird”... The year was 1980. Everything froze and froze. Society was drowning in itself and seemed to be waiting for something. Rare names broke through the dead swell in magazines; everything controversial and bold went into the “underground.”*** The file includes only the preface to the book.