The Darkness Lies on the Old Steps

The novel «The Darkness Lies on the Old Steps», recognized as the best work of the 2000s (the «Russian Booker of the Decade» award, 2011), is based on the author's family history. Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov, one of the foremost Russian philologists of the 20th century, grew up in an intelligent family, cast by fate to the edge of the world — in Shchuchinsk, a city of exiles on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. In the harsh post-war years, amidst the constant threat of new repressions and lacking the bare necessities, the protagonist's family managed not only to survive: like new Robinsons, these people restore the lost civilization. Despite everything, they managed to not become embittered and to preserve their loyalty to their roots.