Taiga Dead End: The Story of the Old Believer Lyokovs Family

Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov (1930–2013) was a journalist, photographer, traveler, and host of one of the most beloved programs on Soviet television — "In the World of Animals." His essays about the nature of his native country earned him the love of millions of readers. Peskov's travel notes and reports are characterized by a touching poeticization of the surrounding space, whether it is village or taiga life, the existence of forest dwellers, or the icy expanses of the Arctic. When in 1978 geologists accidentally discovered the hermit Lyokovs' homestead on the Abakan River, Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov was the first reporter to cover this story and since then he did not cease to pay attention to the taiga "Robinsons," becoming the chronicler of the family. His essays caused a huge resonance in the Soviet press and brought the author worldwide fame. The amazing story of the Old Believer Lyokovs and their youngest daughter Agafya became a kind of document of the era, revealing a vast layer of the country's folk history.