Rose

“Sometimes I ask myself why I need an outside figure to write: mother, father, Svetlana. Why can't I write about myself? Because I am the foundation of the reflective surface of the mirror. The metal coating. You can stare at the back side of the mirror for a long time and see nothing but fine glistening dust. I reflect reality.” Oksana Vasyakina completes the autofiction trilogy, started with the books "Wound" and "Steppe," with a novel in which she tries to unravel the mystery of the short, almost weightless life of her aunt Svetlana. From small fragments of memory, a complex image emerges, in which difficult relationships with her mother, domestic instability, and indifference to her own fate coexist with almost childlike vulnerability and purity. But the deeper the heroine delves into the story of Svetlana, the more she realizes the inseparable connection with her and the more she learns about herself and the nature of her writing.