This latest volume of the "Northern Diary" by Mariusz Wilk—a writer and traveler who has lived in the Russian North for nearly twenty years—opens a new chapter in his body of work. The book comprises three narrative threads: an account of Petrozavodsk; a journey through Labrador, following in the footsteps of another itinerant writer, Kenneth White; and, finally, a continuation of his reflections on life in a house overlooking Lake Onega, in the abandoned village of Konda Berezhnaya.
This new path is explored by Wilk in his dual capacity as a writer and a father; the birth of his daughter prompted him to fundamentally re-evaluate his outlook on life. The perspective he adopts allows him to transcend many of the stereotypes inherent in the Polish view of Russia, while avoiding the trap of falling into the equally numerous Russian stereotypes. It is a vantage point that is simultaneously "from within" and "from without"—which is precisely what makes it so valuable.