Autofiction about parenting, genes, accepting illnesses and the unique characteristics of loved ones.
Marina learns that her father, a radiobiologist who tested soil after the Chernobyl accident, died of a rare disease, Huntington's chorea. Pregnant and terrified of passing on the disease to her son, she reflects on her perception of herself as a mother, rethinking her father's role in her life and the history of their mutual estrangement. Trying to understand what kind of person her father was, Marina touches on the themes of the value of human life in the Soviet Union, the unspoken nature of family trauma, and shame for her loved ones.
