In one of the books, Aleksandr Etoev said of the city in which he was born: 'Living almost desperate in it, I changed so many districts, streets, houses, apartments that the whole city became my eternal home. Everywhere I go, on any bench in any square, garden I sit down, poplars, garden grates, fountains, even urns and lanterns smile at me, they feel my local, post-war Leningrader in me, they remember me as a boy, they know that this one isn't draw a swastika or swear word in the gateway or on the wall of the house. ' Hence the second title of the book - Petersburg Tales, may Gogol forgive the author for such outright theft. Someone will ask for sure: what then is Egypt, what is he doing on the cover? Yes, because in those days, about which the writer tells, 'a tram went to Egypt - climbed onto the Egyptian bridge, slowed down a bit and fell through the pyramid houses' ... The collection included stories and stories united by the St. Petersburg theme.