The novel, written in German by the Russian-speaking writer Katya Petrovskaya, a native of Kiev, caused a wide resonance and was repeatedly awarded, in particular, for the fact that the author found a way to describe the indescribable events of the last century (including the war, the Holocaust and Babi Yar) as events of family history and lovingly wove everything she knew about her ancestors into a fascinating narrative fabric. This novel refers to the method of writing by V. G. Zebald, in whose prose, according to the researcher, "the reflected gaze - the reciprocal gaze of the past - recreates the beholder" (M. Malikova). The novel has been awarded the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, the Strega Europeo Prize, the Aalen Schubart Literary Prize, the Ernst Toller Prize and the Aspekte Literary Prize. The book has been translated into twenty languages.