★What should those who remain do when a village grows old? This is the story of Zabolodie, a northern Russian village—and the story of countless other rural communities that are disappearing.
★Empty villages, left-behind populations, flight and perseverance—these terms we know all too well take on concrete faces in this book: a ferryman who deeply loves his homeland, a wife suffocating under poverty. One wants to stay; the other wants to leave.
★The latest masterpiece by Nastasia Lenzhina, author of the bestselling *Grandma Says to Sit Quietly*!
★A profound novel about a village slowly fading away. It explores the power of place, the wounds of family, and the heartbreaking choices between one’s native land and the future.
★This is a mirror—not only reflecting Russia, but also the countryside we ourselves are losing.

In the northern village of Zabolodye, on the banks of the Sheksna River, nature and human destiny are inextricably intertwined. The ferryman Mikhail deeply loves this harsh land, as well as the mysterious, submerged church of Kroshino—like a ghost from the past, it rises from the water. He clings to his roots, believing that even here, he can build a future. Yet his wife, Irina, suffocates under poverty and despair. In her eyes, their homeland is nothing more than a decaying swamp, where every house carries the weight of suffering.
One wants to stay; the other wants to flee. This is the choice being played out in villages all over the world that are disappearing.
Nastasia Lenzhina, author of the bestseller “Grandma Says to Sit Quietly,” uses her signature style—subtle, restrained, yet warm—to tell a story about “roots.” It is not sentimental, yet it tugs at the heart. There are no heroes—only ordinary people, those who struggle between their homeland and the future, choosing whether to stay or to leave. This is a profound novel about northern Russia, about the Vologda region’s villages that are slowly vanishing. It explores the power of place, the wounds of family, and the heartbreaking choices made between home and the future.

[Author] Nastasia Ryenzhina
A contemporary Russian writer currently residing in Moscow. With a background in journalism, she began seriously dedicating herself to literary创作 in 2019. Her previous work, “Grandma Told Me to Sit Quietly,” has sold over 150,000 copies and went viral on social media, becoming one of the signature works of the “Russian Black Earth” style. She was shortlisted for the Lyceum Young Writers’ Prize and won the Eksmo Debut Award in 2025. She is passionate about writing about her hometown village, folk legends, and those “forgotten people and events.”