lies. Yet the events of his day--from his unruly French class to the evening he spends with his girlfriend and her parents--seriously challenge his resolve to avoid lying. From his wry, ironic reflections about himself and his world, the reader gains insight into the human condition and the specific challenges of living in the Soviet Union in the 1960s.Viktoria Tokareva (b. 1937, Leningrad) launched her writing career with the publication of the story Den' bez vran'ia in the journal Molodaia gvardiia in 1964. Since that time she has written countless stories and novellas about the fate of men and women trying to get by in contemporary Russia. Widely read in Russia and Europe, her works combine humor and psychological insight into everyday characters and situations.

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