In the early hours of April 26, 1986, the residents of Pripyat are sleeping, arguing, flirting, or struggling with their demons, while reactor No. 4 of the V.I. Lenin nuclear power plant explodes.

Against the backdrop of an event that irreversibly separates the before from the after, the everyday lives of the unsuspecting residents of the Chernobyl satellite city become a turning point. Personal stories and fragmented narratives intertwine, just as the past intertwines with the present and future of the protagonists. However, the flow of time does not stop; some questions are answered and some remain unanswered, some memories fade and some remain unshakable, some gestures are left unfinished and some find a violent response.

From beginning to end, this sprawling novel is dominated by the issue of memory: how lived past converses with what the present anticipates; how personal or collective memories unexpectedly emerge from the shadowed side of reality before plunging back into shallow waters.

"But it doesn't matter what one remembers and what one doesn't, after all, the years flow like water and memory is nothing but an inexhaustible well of lies."