The term 'incident' was used to describe mystical stories, usually told at night—like today's 'Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka.' It was folklore, along with ditties and jokes. At an early age, L. Petrushevskaya would tell these 'incidents' at night everywhere—in the orphanage, in the pioneer camp, in the children's tuberculosis forest schools. But they also came much later—and were then written down in notebooks. It was only decades later that she managed to publish them. The current book consists of such mystical stories. It also includes the author's predictions: 'At the end of 1976 and the beginning of 1977, I wrote two stories—'Hygiene' (about an epidemic in the city) and 'New Robinsons. Chronicle of the End of the 20th Century' (about the escape of city dwellers to the countryside). In November 2019, I wrote the story 'Hello' about isolation, and in March 2020, it began. In early July 2020, I wrote the story 'Old Bus' about the hijacking of a bus carrying passengers, and a week later, it happened in Ukraine. These four predictions—forty years apart—you will find in this book.'
Petrushevskaya's stories have become absolute world classics—they have been translated into many languages, won the World Fiction Award (2010), and are recognized as bestsellers by The New York Times and Amazon.