Elena Melnikova

The story of the young engineer Anton, constantly running around in search of work and the opportunity to prove himself. His life becomes like a carousel of monotonous fruitless attempts, but one day fate throws him an excellent proposal - a serious company, a big project, a life abroad. This proposal puts the hero in front of the choice between the future and the one most desired for him, the last, but the most expensive, that remains in his present life.

Old age knows no national boundaries or geographical limits. She can be peaceful and happy in the circle of loved ones and become a disaster if you are abandoned by people dear to you. Man is the only living creature in the world who knows that he will die.

Based on the novel by Booker Prize Winner Ludmila Ulitskaya, The Funeral Party is set in August 1991. In a sweltering New York City apartment, a group of Russian émigrés gathers round the deathbed of an artist named Alik, a charismatic character beloved by them all, especially the women who take turns nursing him as he fades from this world. Their reminiscences of the dying man and of their lives in Russia are punctuated by debates and squabbles: Whom did Alik love most? Should he be baptized before he dies, as his alcoholic wife, Nina, desperately wishes, or be reconciled to the faith of his birth by a rabbi who happens to be on hand? And what will be the meaning for them of the Yeltsin putsch, which is happening across the world in their long-lost Moscow but also right before their eyes on CNN?

The ruined barber Svirid Petrovich Golokhvosty decides to improve his situation by marrying the unattractive daughter of the wealthy merchant Prokop Serko. However, at the same time, he encounters the beautiful Galina.

The protagonist spent a significant part of his life burdened by painful memories of his grandfather, who died during Stalin's repressions. And now the time has come when he could avenge his grandfather. This is one storyline, presented in the form of a flashback. The second unfolds in our time, which the author also sees as nothing good.

At the beginning of "perestroyka", city authorities are getting ready for another event in keeping with the spirit of stagnant times. A director with a rather "unyielding" character is assigned to make a film about the birth of the one millionth inhabitant. However, when he finds the heroine of his story, there is no much "positive" to show as this family hardly suits for advertising happy life...

Having once again successfully performed at the competition, five paratroopers, seeing off one of their friends to the airport, witnessed the collective beating of the boy. Without hesitation, the athletes rushed to help, and later learned that a man had died in a fight, while one of the athletes fell under suspicion. The investigator even figured out his first conviction. Only a few days later the mistake became obvious and the true killer was found, but for now the friends tried to answer the question themselves: who is to blame and is it to blame?

A story about two old people living in the abandoned faraway village.

The old forester dies in a fight with poachers, and his faithful friend, the lynx Kunak, goes into the taiga. The new forester Drozdov wants to bring Kunak back and patiently accustoms the lynx to himself.

Kraskov and Vera have long loved each other. They are unable to part, however, and connect their destinies can not and have already accepted the circumstances of life: he has a family, three children. A chance meeting in Moscow with a young couple, familiar with the rest in the South, pushes them to a decisive step…