Trans-Siberian Pastorale, Oleg Ermakov

This is the story of an escape in a country, Russia, where nature still offers spaces large enough to take refuge in or get lost. In the heart of North Asia, in Siberia, Daniel Menchikov met a Thoreau-like figure on the shores of Lake Baikal, a guardian of silence and birds. The example of this man, who managed to remain free in a system most hostile to the individual, will give the young man the courage to rebel. In the name of what glorious, long-forgotten history should he endure the bullying and humiliation in the army that are the norm for young recruits? A deserter, caught and then finally driven out as a disruptive element, the young man buys a kayak and paddles up a river, ever deeper into a mythical land, a land of ancestral wisdom. This book, which is above all a hymn to nature, harmoniously balances adventure story, spiritual quest, and social satire.