The Sleeping Children

Many years after the death of his uncle, Anthony Passeron decides to tell the story of his family. To tell how his grandparents worked hard to make a living in a butcher shop to secure their children's future. About how his father followed in their footsteps. And about how his uncle Desire - the family's hope - stumbled and fell into a trap that ruined an entire generation of young people.

The author weaves together two inextricably linked stories: the tragedy that shook several generations of his family to its core, and the story of doctors desperately opposing denial and ignorance in attempts to unravel the mystery of a mysterious disease that turned many thousands of people into outcasts.

«Passeron describes two worlds - the first researchers of HIV infection and the first people who died from AIDS. Both worlds are united by the fact that their inhabitants are subject to stigma. This is a space of unspoken words and fear. And - on the other hand - a time of desperate attempts to find the truth and help people. "Thank you not for me, thank you for the others," - says a dying AIDS patient to his doctor in the book. Timely HIV testing and adherence to therapy in case of a positive result make the work of the first researchers of the virus and the deaths of the first AIDS patients not in vain». - Darya Gorstkina, director of the AIDS Center Foundation