Aleksandr Shekhtel

The main character of this one - Antonina - a wife, mother, mistress of the house, wakes up after an unusually bright dream and realizes that she has not lived her whole life as she wanted. There were strangers around, people she didn't like, and it wasn't her life at all. She realizes this so clearly that even at the funeral of her own husband, Antonina does not cry, is not killed, and it seems that this death does not concern her at all. And this is despite the fact that my husband lived a long and prosperous life...

This is a story about the battle for a hospital building in Grozny (Chechnya) in January 1995 between Russian Army forces and Chechen rebels supported by Arabian mujahideen and international mercenaries. Although the story is fictional, most of the characters are based on real-life prototypes and events are the compilation of true events during the Grozny Siege in the First Chechen War.