Czesław Miłosz is an outstanding Polish poet and intellectual. His best novel was written in Polish but first published in France, as Miłosz's books were banned in Poland. This novel explores themes of good and evil, sin and grace, predestination and freedom. It depicts a lost paradise of childhood on the banks of an imaginary river, and is described by Miłosz as a "search for reality cleansed by the passage of time."

The main character, an alter ego of the author, is a growing being constantly overcoming its boundaries. This novel undoubtedly joins the ranks of books, from Aksakov to Nabokov, that open up the world of childhood. It has been translated into Russian for the first time.