Ludmila Ulitskaya dedicated her new book to the memory of Father Georgiy Tchistyakov, Orthodox priest, scientist and intellectual, who for many years was “the heart and soul” of the Charity Group, which has been working at Republican Children Clinical Hospital for the past twenty years. This Group has transformed volunteer work into an effective system that helps to save lives and brings hope. Reading “When a Person Got to the Hospital” is not an easy thing to do. Recollections of witnesses about sick children and volunteers who work at this hospital are the main component of the book. It is a story of endless work, unbearable pain and indescribable joy.

“I am so glad that it is finally published,” admitted Ulitskaya. “There are huge numbers of characters in the book: doctors, nurses, patients, volunteers. This part of life – a hospital – is very important, because each of us will be a patient there someday. Learning how to care for others is necessary, since we ourselves will one day be feeble and in need of care. Facing pain is a vital issue to write about. In this book I ask many questions and problems that go unanswered. For example, how to live after such a tragedy as the death of a child, after you spent so many hours at his bed, hoping that he will live, but instead he died? And now you have to decide how you manage to live without him? Where can you find strength to continue ministry in the Charity Group when you are facing burnout? How can you learn to find love and hope in a situation where it seems they don’t exist?”