The funeral mourner had long since resigned herself to her fate. Even in a tiny village, she is lonely: her husband expects her to provide silent service, her daughter has long since left, and the villagers are sure that her appearance in the house is unfortunate. And my husband thinks so too, which, however, does not prevent him from living on money, which "smells like dead meat." Everyone says that no one forced the mourner to choose such an income, but circumstances are stronger than any words — she is forced to take responsibility for her family and live among those who despise her, but desperately need her in the darkest days. It is not customary to talk about happiness in the village, and the mourner does not even think about the fact that she is unhappy, because she is a woman, everything could have been much worse, so she looks at life sardonically, although not without bewilderment. But even in a predetermined fate, there are meetings that change everything, and then the world very slowly turns into colors, and you begin to ask self—evident questions that had not previously occurred to you. The SI Leeds Award-winning debut novel by Anglo—Chinese writer Wenyan Lu is a poignant and crystal-clear tragicomedy about self-discovery, the inevitability of understanding, and the fact that even on a scorched earth, hope sometimes sprouts. For the first time in Russian!