The author of this book, a grandson of a merchant-Old Believer, underwent many trials related to his faith and social status: raskulachivanie, his father"s arrest, exile to the Siberian town of Narym, expulsion from college. Breaking with his parents, he joins the Communist organization for youth KOMSOMOL, then fights during WWII. After the war he was mobilized to participate in the project of constructing the nuclear bomb. He changes his life again by quitting his military career and refusing to join the CPSU. This book is about hard decisions Terent"ev made in his life and their consequences. (0.585 kg.)