In the first English biography of his life and work, Zina Gimpelevich describes the conditions under which Bykau lived in the former USSR and provides a literary and political history of Belarus from 1918-2003. Based on interviews that she conducted with Bykau, she illuminates his life of as an artist and a defender of human rights. She also provides literary criticism of Bykau's work, including The Ordeal and Pack of Wolves, and discusses the psychological realism of his early novels, and his interest in existentialism.