FROM THE AUTHOR:

Dear readers, we live in a very large country—it takes six whole days to travel from Moscow to Vladivostok by train. Ever since the decision was made in 1891 to build the Great Siberian Route—the Trans-Siberian Railway—the railway has connected the country into a single whole. The Trans-Siberian Railway changed everything: bridges were thrown across Siberia's largest rivers, large cities arose in place of small villages, and settlers-walkers from central Russia, Belarus, and other parts of the Russian Empire poured into the lands, seemingly rediscovered. The Trans-Siberian Railway is still the longest railway in the world today. Building such a route at that time could be compared to a flight into space, and traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway became a true discovery of Russia for many people.

We also decided to hit the road by train. Our fellow travelers and helpers were children and adults who live along the Trans-Siberian Railway—in cities and towns, 76 people in total! We asked them to tell us about the places where they live: where to go for a walk, where the best view is, what interesting places and monuments there are in the city, what words and favorite dishes they have, what they know about the history of their station. Many of our parents or other relatives work on the railway, and we were interested in asking them: that’s how the book featured stories from the engineer, train conductors, signalman, and barmaid. And some of the kids are even studying to be railway workers! For two whole years, the kids sent us their stories, interviews, and photographs. Our informants became two years older, and the book also grew: it contains 36 towns and cities — and that’s less than a third of the 146 stations on the Trans-Siberian Railway! You can meet our fellow travelers in the “Our People in...” section, which is available at each station.

Our entire journey is divided into four chapters based on geography: Europe and the Urals, Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, and the Far East. Before each chapter is a list of the stations we will stop at, travel tips, and a general description of this part of Russia. For each station, at the very top of the page, it is indicated how many kilometers it is to Moscow—the zero kilometer of the Trans-Siberian Railway—how many minutes a passenger train stops there, how many people live in the city or town (over the past two years, the population has increased in some places, and perhaps decreased in others), what the average temperatures are in January and July, what the time difference is according to the universal time scale UTC, or, in other words, Greenwich Mean Time.

But the main thing in our story is not numbers and dates. We learned so many interesting things about times past and present, cities large and small, customs and sights, looked through the eyes of our fellow travelers at ancient buildings, water towers, rivers and mountains—and we also made many friends all over the country. After all, “every trip is a journey that reveals borders; Russia does not end beyond the borders of the region in which you live,” wrote Viktor Konovalenko, Polina’s father from the Darasun station.

Alexandra Litvina and Anya Desnitskaya’s previous project, “The History of an Old Apartment,” is a book about the history of the 20th century in Russia through the stories of many generations of families who lived in the same apartment. The book has received numerous Russian and international awards (including a nomination for Best Non-Fiction Project 2018 at the Bologna Book Fair, a nomination for the German Children's Literature Prize 2018, the 'Inspector General' award for the best book project of the year 2017, and others), and has already been published in several editions in Germany, France, Poland, and the USA. Chinese, Spanish, and Italian editions are in preparation.

Figures, historical facts, and geographic information found in textbooks are complemented by real stories of people connected with the Trans-Siberian Railway, stories about favorite places, recipes, and tips on what to see, generously shared by children and adults.
These stories were collected, facts were compiled, panoramas and sketches from megacities and small towns were created by Alexandra Litvina and Anya Desnitskaya, the authors of the well-known book 'The History of an Old Apartment', a real event on the Russian and international book market, winners of numerous Russian and international awards.

FACTS ABOUT THE BOOK:  

• The book includes 36 villages and towns along the Trans-Siberian Railway, about a third of all the stations on this route.
• Work on the book lasted almost three years. Work began shortly after the publication of 'The History of an Old Apartment'.
• 76 people living along the Trans-Siberian Railway took part in the creation of the book. They responded to the call of Anya Desnitskaya and Alexandra Litvina to help collect information and sent the authors letters, photographs, stories, plants, and souvenirs.
• The book is divided into four sections based on geography: Europe and the Urals, Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, and the Far East. Before each chapter is a list of stations where we will stop, travel tips, and a general description of this part of Russia.
• At each station, we learn about the history of this place, its sights, special and dialect words, favorite dishes, and activities of local residents.
• Long before the book was published, foreign publishers expressed interest in it.
• Exhibitions and presentations of the book took place even before its release at the Bologna Book Fair in March 2019, at the Minsk Book Fair in February 2019, at the Moscow International Book Fair in September 2019, at the Frankfurt exhibition in October 2019, at the KRYAKK 2019 in November in Krasnoyarsk.