The dramatic fate of a simple Kyrgyz woman Tolgonay, who lost her husband and three sons in the Great Patriotic War. The war took from Tolgonai the people most dear and close to her heart, an echo of which was the death of her beloved daughter-in-law Tolgonai. But the persistent woman did not break, her loving heart did not coarsen, because next to her the sprout of new life is the son of Aliman.
" . . . a rewarding book." —Times Literary Supplement Set in the vast windswept Central Asian steppes and the infinite reaches of galactic space, this powerful novel offers a vivid view of the culture and values of the Soviet Union's Central Asian peoples.
In a primeval forest cut off from the rest of the world, a seven-year-old boy and six adults are living. The boy is isolated and lonesome. A connoisseur of folk tales, old Maumoon serves as a substitute for his parents. A world of tales and beautiful legends as perceived by the impressionable child prone to fantastic perceptions of reality conflicts with the harsh existence of adults engrossed in their own problems.