"Manyunya Writes a Fantasy Novel" by Narine Abgaryan, summary

This autobiographical story about a Soviet childhood in the Armenian town of Berd was published in 2011. Told from the perspective of eleven-year-old Narine, she chronicles the daily lives of two families, a series of childhood pranks, and the colorful everyday life of a provincial town in the early 1980s. The book became the second part of a celebrated trilogy about the adventures of two restless friends. The series opens with the novella "Manyunya" (2010), continues with "Manyunya Writes a Fantasy Novel" (2011), and concludes with the collection "Manyunya, Ba’s Anniversary, and Other Troubles" (2011). The stories about the girls have been successfully adapted into a comedy television series and feature films.

Events in Berd: From Gift Hunts to Opera Premieres

The story begins with preparations for Uncle Misha’s birthday, Manyunya’s father. His mother, the formidable Roza Iosifovna (Ba), unsuccessfully searches for a hard-to-find Finnish suit as a gift for her son. After a lengthy search through friends and relatives, Ba decides to knit a sweater from wool brought from Tbilisi. Narine’s younger sister, Gayane, covers her bedroom wall with her mother’s rare French pomade, trying to hide the single dot from the "dwarf in her belly." At the party, colleagues unexpectedly give the birthday boy that very same Finnish suit, a size 52.

Soon, Uncle Misha falls in love with a young dental intern, Louise Ter-Markaryan, who has arrived from Yerevan on assignment. He takes her to the cinema, the local history museum, and a performance of "King Lear," but the beauty returns to the capital to be with her fiancé.

The Abgaryan family attends a local production of the tragedy "Othello" at the Community Center. The next day, television crews arrive at their home to film a story about the family, but Yura, the father, gets the crew drunk on mulberry vodka, and the filming is cancelled.

In the fall, the friends quarrel over their ancestors: having learned of the ancient King Abgar, the Abgaryan girls declare themselves princesses. Manyunya grieve over the lack of royal roots until Ba tells her about the talented poet Isaac Shats. Inspired, the girl composes the song "Vegetables" and performs it to her friend on the violin over the phone early on a Sunday morning.

Winter fun and spring holidays

In winter, the girls build a snowman: Manyunya and Karinka bury Narine in snow up to her waist, place a saucepan on her head, hand her a broom and poker, and stick a carrot in her mouth. The surprise ends with a scolding from Ba and Narine catching a cold. On New Year’s Eve, Manyunya writes a letter to Leonid Brezhnev asking him to defeat the imperialist hydra and cure the "general secretary," and Karinka is punished for smashing the head of the neighborhood bully, Rubik, with a brick.

In the spring, the girls enroll in Anna Genrikhovna’s (Aunt Ano’s) dance class to perform a Ukrainian dance for May Day. At the concert, the neighboring village of Navur makes a splash with its exotic number, "Northern Shaman."

On March 8th, fathers decide to take their daughters out into the mountains, but their Moskvich gets stuck in the impassable mud. The girls and adults are forced to walk twenty kilometers to the nearest village.

Soon, Papa Yura suffers from a bout of intermittent fever and is saved by huge portions of food, while Karinka short-circuits an electrical outlet with a knitting needle. Later, Manyunya begins writing a book about aliens, but abandons the manuscript after the first sentence due to the aroma of Grandma’s pies.

Trip to the Kolagir camp

In June, Grandma Anastasia Ivanovna from Kirovabad comes to visit. The parents send Narine, Karinka, and Manyunya to the local pioneer camp, "Kolagir," to renovate the house. The camp turns out to be a semi-abandoned place with minimal amenities, tasteless food from Aunt Lina, the cook, vicious mosquitoes, and a stern commander — retired Lieutenant Colonel Garegin Sergeyevich.

The girls quickly settle in: Karinka, with a well-aimed slingshot, knocks the arrogance out of the annoying bugler Slavik, who’s been blowing his megaphone at dawn. Fleeing hunger, the children steal apples from the orchard of Grandpa Sako, the caretaker, and then head to the river.

Homesick, the trio escapes through the forest. Along the way, they encounter a donkey tied to a tree, mistaking it for bear bait, but are soon caught by the older pioneers. As punishment, the runaways scrub floors and serve as kitchen guards.

The day of the military sports game "Zarnitsa" arrives at the camp. Garegin Sergeyevich announces that the senior detachments have been captured by the enemy. Narine, Karinka, and Manyunya, along with the battalion, follow clues through the forest, find prisoners on a hill, and free the camp banner thanks to Karinka’s accurate slingshot. Soon, Ba takes his granddaughter and sisters home early.

Returning home and a trip to pick herbs

The girls arrive home to a renovated apartment, where Karinka promptly rips out the door of the renovated closet. Grandma brings gifts from Novorossiysk: a copper barrel of honey for Sonya, paints for Karinka, and sandals big enough for Narine to grow into.

Ba is getting ready for a banquet in honor of the popular singer Poghos Muradyan, but returns disappointed: the artist behaved immodestly, and respect for the idol is replaced by complete contempt.

Another day, Dad hides his stash of one hundred and thirty rubles in the study and completely forgets the hiding place. The whole family rummages through the library until Mom accidentally discovers the bills inside the piano, between the strings. Soon, the girls pick up an Elektronika radio, connect it to the wrong wire, and burn the device.

Manyunya invents a fictitious, fatal disease called "purdiculosis," the symptoms of which Narine immediately discovers in herself out of fear of doctors. Her father cures his daughter with the mere threat of giving her an injection.

The book concludes with a trip to the mountains to pick wild sorrel (aveluk). In a mountain village, the heroes meet two ancient sisters — Katynga and Olynga. The insightful Katynga treats the travelers to bread with matsun, accurately identifies Narine’s recent fright from a dog, and gives her a blessed wax candle. Ba suddenly remembers her grandmother’s lullaby and, on the way home, sings ancient poems, inspiring deep and enlightening reflections in all her companions.