Pavel Pepperstein's new novel “Barkhatnaya kibitka” on childhood in the USSR and family

I have received Pavel Pepperstein's new novel "Velvet Wagon" (Barkhatnaya kibitka), published by Alpina Non-Fiction. It is mostly about Pepperstein's own childhood, but in places also about childhood in general, about childhood in the USSR, about the childhood of a privileged cub. Besides stories of childhood, the book holds family stories, observations and testimonies from different eras. For example, about Uncle Harry, who thought he was immortal but in the end would have agreed to become a salt cellar after his death, or about an aunt who got a punch in the face for threatening the life of a hapless rodent. A pity the book has no illustrations at all, though the cover carries a splendid work by Pepperstein, "Observing the Passengers on the Metro", which was recently shown at the Vladey exhibition