Heart of Spring (The Witch of the Neighborhood)

The novel "Heart of Spring (The Witch of the Neighborhood)" continues the author's cycle of the modern urban myth "Wheels of the Year". However, like each of the works in this cycle, it is completely independent and can be read separately.

The familiar reality is again bizarrely fragmented and reflected in ancient customs, rules and rituals, which, having survived millennia, are still woven into everyday life with invisible lace, thus turning the mighty Wheel of the Year, with which all things revolve in eternal motion. But reality is gradually wearing out, and its working mechanism is increasingly failing, which is why the strained creaking of the Wheel of the Year fills children's dreams with anxiety and makes adults restlessly turn over in bed and anxiously peer into the darkness outside the window.

Every year, it becomes harder for Spring to come to this city, whose best days are long gone, just as Spring's youth has passed. It becomes more and more difficult for her to win her heart from the confused scum of the relevant authorities, long infected with the parasite of corruption and bureaucracy, and without a heart, Spring will not be able to heal the city from the evil winter spells and grant spring rebirth. Only children can still do something here, because it is the fiery lights of their nature that prevent this city and its inhabitants from finally dissolving in the gray turbidity of the Off-Season, which is always lurking somewhere nearby behind the ragged back of a tired reality. However, things have not been going well with the children lately, because somewhere on the outskirts of the city, the Witch has hatched a den and is collecting her unprecedented collection of creepy wonders...

It all started not so long ago, when one sleet evening, a premonition of imminent trouble in the family forced Little to follow a suspicious old woman who promised him help. Of course, as often happens, the old woman turns out to be not at all who she pretended to be, and Little will regret everything three more times, because the Witch always remembers everything, especially promises made frivolously. Now she will not allow Little to forget that strange and terrifying adventure so easily and will constantly remind him of what he promised, slowly plunging him into a dark abyss of madness and hopelessness.

Created at the intersection of magical realism and whimsical prose, the novel "Heart of Spring (The Witch of the Neighborhood)" continues the author's cycle "Wheels of the Year" and chronicles the latest events that have occurred in this city. Few people know about this, even fewer talk about it, because such things are usually carefully hidden from the human eye. But this is where this intricate story begins about how Spring returned its heart, children tried to escape the Witch's nets, which she spread almost all over the city, especially on its outskirts, and the municipal elite gathered in the gardens of the Golden-Domed Lavra for the annual traditional banquet of the Spring Equinox.