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«No one will erect a monument to the Russian district town, and that's a pity». Mikhail Baru is being disingenuous, as his books are a true monument in prose to the small Russian towns. Witty, subtle, and detailed essays that make up the writer's new book are dedicated to three towns of Pskov region — Opochka, Ostruv, and Porhov. Much in their history was defined by their border location: these district centers acutely experienced the clash of interests between Russia and other European powers, trade and diplomatic routes passed through them, and they are connected to certain episodes in Pushkin's biography. But, as always, Baru draws the reader's attention not so much to the grand historical narratives as to how these global processes are reflected in the private lives of the people who lived in these places during a particular period of history. Mikhail Baru is a poet, prose writer, translator, chemical engineer, and author of the books «Unprintable Gingerbread», «Tablecloth of the English Queen», and «Petitions of Ovdokim Burunov», published by the «New Literary Review».