Leaving the city, the country, the familiar life, friends, and family to settle in a cabin on the shores of Lake Baikal for six months — this is the goal set by thirty-eight-year-old French traveler Sylvain Tesson.

He dreams of living in silence and solitude, surrounded by Siberian cedars, books, and his own thoughts. Tesson takes long walks in the taiga, skates on the frozen lake, occasionally receives guests, and keeps a diary.

Later, the famous traveler would call the period from February to July 2010 one of the happiest in his life. This unique experience, far from his native France, is the subject of the book, filled with images of the Baikal nature and reflections on a wide range of topics.

Awarded the Prix Médicis for essay writing in 2011, the book "In the Forests of Siberia" has gone through several reprints and served as the basis for the film of the same name (Dans les forêts de Sibérie; directed by Safy Nebbou, 2016).