About the book: 1973 / Quiet, thoughtful Smolensk region - the homeland and constant, unchanging source of creativity of N. Semenova. In 1959, the Smolensk book publishing house published Semenova’s first book, Lenkin’s Birch. In 1966, the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house published a second book of short stories, “Moyanika.” This is what the outstanding Soviet poet Nikolai Rylenkov wrote about this book: “In the stories of the young Smolensk writer Nina Semenova there is always something of a good fairy tale, although they are not at all distinguished by the richness of their fiction. What is fabulous about them is that elusive at first glance, but clearly perceptible poetic feature, which our people call the amazing word “something”. In the new collection of stories and novellas, N. Semenova continues the same theme - the search for the miraculous in the ordinary. The writer loves the modern village, its hardworking residents, and the discreet, shy beauty of her native land..