He Will Take Off and Fly

In a distant northern city, where winter lasts almost all year round, lives a boy with a beautiful name, Zareslav. He has a vocal talent, he participated in the contest "Gifted Child" and was awarded a trip to Moscow. His mother dreams that one day her Zarik will become a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, but she will never see her son on stage. The boy experiences disappointments and losses, which, perhaps, are too much for one child. How to cope with pain and is it possible to help oneself alone?
"For a singer's voice to blossom and sound in full force, for the 'needed timbre' to emerge, one sometimes has to endure a serious shock: this is true both for the protagonist of the story and its author. Those who know what pain is feel others' suffering more acutely. Those who have lost hope are ready to give it away – and the swallow will surely fly to the distant northern city, and in dark hours someone will take your hand, and sorrow will become light and almost weightless. Zarik will sing in defiance of grief, and poet Dmitry Sirotin will discover a new prose 'timbre' and write a text that is lyrical and transparent as the spring sky."
Valentina Dyogteva, children's writer, laureate of the "New Children's Book-2019" contest.
Dmitry Sirotin – poet and prose writer, laureate of the "Kostyor" magazine prize, diploma winner of the Krapivin Literary Prize, finalist of the "Kniguru" and "New Children's Book" contests – wrote a very sad story about how painful it can be to grow up.

Especially when life demanded you to be an adult from the very beginning.