"I started the novel when the Communists were in power but failed to finish it. In the meantime, the screenplay for the well-known film Repentance was based on my novel. Working on it and the scandal that followed the film (which was arrested twice), took a lot of my time. Later I abandoned writing the novel due to the unfolding events in the country.

"Today I resumed working on the novel because it is appropriate to our present times. If there were a couple of Varlam Aravidzes in the past, today there are plenty of them and will be more in the future."
(From the author’s introduction)