...And miracles and fears

"Wonders and Horrors" is a collection of essays about daily life in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The book doesn't just tell about the past; it allows you to experience it — through the colors, tastes, and moods of the era.

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This volume brings together essays by Volha Babkova on the history of everyday life in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 16th–17th centuries. The author does not aim to explain the lives of people in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, but rather attempts to perceive the colors and tastes of that time.

Years of work with ancient manuscript documents enabled the author to respond with her own voice to the "existential echo" that emerged between the present and the past. Three new texts have been added to the second, expanded edition of the book: "Our 'Bees'," "The Life and Death of Hryhory Makarovich, Minsk Land Judge," and "Todor's Day." The fourth text – "Four Adams" – seemingly "falls out" chronologically, but is closely connected to archival research and our history.