★ It tells Brodsky’s story through his family: this Nobel Prize-winning poet, who only finished 8th grade, went from exile in the north to life abroad—all woven into his family’s unity and the memory of their "one-and-a-half room" apartment in Leningrad.
★ The author is Brodsky’s cousin. He uses family memories to restore the poet’s roots, letting you connect with this 20th-century legendary poet through a loved one’s perspective.
★ The book carries the weight of the era: Brodsky’s convictions and awards, his love and separation, are tied to his family’s fate. It reads with both the poet’s warmth and historical depth.

Joseph Brodsky is a legend of the 20th century. He only completed 8th grade, yet became a university professor; he was exiled to the north, then won the Nobel Prize in Literature; he loved his hometown Leningrad deeply, but was forced into exile; he was convicted of "parasitism," yet expanded new possibilities for his mother tongue in a foreign land—these are the milestones of this great poet’s life.
Indeed, geniuses are first belittled and marginalized, then their legacies are studied.
"...All attempts to revive the past are like efforts to grasp the meaning of life," Brodsky once believed. This book, written by Brodsky’s cousin Mikhail Kelmovich, traces the poet’s fate through his family—a family steeped in a unique atmosphere of unity and mutual support. Everything was shared: the warmth of parents and relatives, family memories, and that "one-and-a-half room" apartment in Leningrad.
These memories help readers connect with the poet by touching his family and roots.