The first book of this autobiographical novel was written in 1933 and was praised by A.M. Gorky at the First Congress of Soviet Writers. The book tells the story of Sanka Golota, a boy from the working village of Donbass. With merciless truthfulness, the author painted a picture of the monstrous exploitation of workers before the revolution. The writer shows the wanderings of the orphaned Sanka, who is saved by the "red people." In the second book, published more than 30 years after the first, we see Alexander Golota on Magnitostroy, where he works as a machinist, we learn about his selfless work.