Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka (Sheindlya Sura Leibovna Solomoniak, Sofya Ivanovna Bluestein) (1847 or 1851 - presumably 1905) - according to other sources (1846-1902), a swindler, adventurer, legend of the Russian underworld of the second half of the 19th century.
Her fate to this day is shrouded in mystery - after all, throughout her life she was engaged in deceiving "gullible" and rich men, and, according to rough estimates, she was able to earn about 6 million rubles on her adventures - an insane amount for the 19th century.
The life of Sonya the Golden Hand can only be recreated from police archives, newspaper articles and legends, which were piled up around her name. There are many different versions of her biography and many discrepancies among different authors (including the 19th century journalist Vlas Doroshevich, Anton Chekhov, screenwriter Viktor Merezhko), who ultimately express only their vision of her complicated life.
The exact date of birth of Sonya is unknown. Even the year of birth is named presumably.
Sonya loved Odessa very much and lived in it a lot, but she was born, contrary to the assertions of many biographers, not in the "city by the sea", but in the town of Powonzki, Warsaw Uyezd, as stated in the documents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Sheindlya Sura Leibovna called herself a Warsaw bourgeois woman, although it is very difficult to rank her family as a respectable class. The family was frankly a gangster: dad bought stolen goods, was engaged in smuggling and sale of counterfeit money, and older sister Feiga was known as a clever thief, therefore one or another successful business was discussed without hesitation in their house.
However, the father did not want the youngest daughter to also go on a slippery slope. Therefore, in 1864, he married her to the venerable grocer Isaac Rosenbad, whose business was extremely successful. Sura was able to play the role of an obedient wife for only a year and a half, she even gave birth to a daughter, Riva, but then, unable to withstand such a "boring" life, she took the child, grabbed 500 rubles from her husband's shop and fled with the recruit Rubinstein to Russia, where her adventurous criminal adventures.
Juncker Gorozhansky: the first failure
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The first time the police detained her on charges of stealing a suitcase from a cadet Gorozhansky, whom she met on the train.
So, in the evening, a third-class compartment car, a charming girl, introduced herself: "Sima Rubinstein" - and innocently calling the young cadet "colonel", widening her beautiful eyes, listens to his heroic stories, portraying sincere attention and sympathy …
They chatted all night without interruption, and the cadet, completely subdued by his companion, takes out two suitcases to the platform in Klin and waves his hand to his romantic companion for a long time, leaning out of the carriage door … Only after returning to the compartment, the poor cadet noticed that he had taken out … his suitcase, in which they were his savings and money given to him by the priest.
Sim was quickly grabbed and taken to the police station. But when she burst into tears, declaring: "How could you only think", "This is just an annoying misunderstanding", "How can you say that" - everyone, including the robbed cadet, believed that this was just an annoying misunderstanding.
Sima was not convicted, but handed over to the bail of the owner of the hotel where she was staying and whom she managed to completely charm in a very short time. Moreover, in the interrogation protocol, there was “Sima Rubinstein”'s own handwritten statement about… her loss of 300 rubles!
After the first failure of Sim (more precisely Sonya, Sophia - as she soon began to call herself) became extremely cautious.
And this story had an unexpected continuation. Many years later, Sonya was at a play at the Maly Theater, they staged Woe From Wit, and in one of the main characters she suddenly recognized her first client! Young Misha Gorozhansky decided to drastically change his own destiny and went into acting, taking the pseudonym Reshimov for himself, and was able to succeed quite well in a new field.
Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka experienced an attack of sentimentality and sent the actor a huge bouquet, enclosing a note: "To the great actor from his first teacher." But unable to resist the temptation, she put a golden breastplate to the bouquet, which she immediately pulled out of some general's pocket. Gorozhansky-Reshimov long puzzled both over the note and over an expensive gift, on which was engraved in large twisted letters "To dear Leopold on his sixtieth birthday."
Operation Guten Morgen
Sonya made her first successes in the criminal field in St. Petersburg. They say that it was there that she was able to come up with a new method of hotel theft, which she called "guten morgen" - "good morning!"
A beautiful, expensive and elegantly dressed lady settled in the best hotel in the city and kept an eye on the guests, simultaneously studying the layout of the rooms. When Sonya chose a victim for herself, she put on felt slippers, an open sexy negligee and quietly entered the guest's room. She was looking for money and jewelry, and if the guest suddenly woke up, Sonya, as if not noticing him, yawning and stretching, began to undress, pretending to be wrong with the number …
A charming, sophisticated lady in sparkling jewelry - who would have thought she was dealing with a thief. "Noticing" a stranger's man, she was very embarrassed, began to wrap thin laces on herself, embarrassing the man, everyone apologized and parted … But if the man was attractive, Sonya easily used her sexual charms, and when the new-found lover wearily fell asleep calmly took the money and ran away.
She handed over the stolen jewels to a "lured" jeweler who knew about her craft.
Perhaps Sonya could not be called a true beauty, but she was charming and unusually attractive, which sometimes affects men more strongly than cold beauty. Eyewitnesses claimed she looked "hypnotically sexy."
By the way, after a wave of thefts in the style of "guten morgen", Sonya began to have followers. In all large cities of Russia, "hippies" began to work - thieves who distracted the client with sex. True, the hippies did not have such a flight of imagination as Sonya the Golden Hand had - they "worked" without a spark, primitively, rudely … The woman started a love game and lured the client, and the man pulled out money and jewelry from his clothes left nearby.
If you believe the thieves' legends, the St. Petersburg hypocrite Marfushka, who traded in St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries, saved up a capital of 100,000 rubles! Most often, such couples burned out through the fault of a woman - offended when dividing the spoils, they handed over their partners to the police and … they themselves went to jail.
The robbery of the jeweler Karl von Meil
Sonya played a whole performance out of her robberies - a real performance. Take, for example, the case of the robbery of the richest jeweler Karl von Meil.
A charming thoroughbred woman with exquisite manners and bottomless black eyes enters the jewelry store. A real socialite. The owner of the store, von Meil, crumbles in front of her in pleasantries, anticipating big profits. The young lady introduces herself as the wife of the famous psychiatrist L. and asks the owner, "guided by your exquisite taste, to pick me up something suitable from the latest French collection of diamonds."
Oh, how it is possible to refuse a woman with such eyes and manners!.. Von Meil immediately offers the customer a luxurious necklace, several rings and rings and a large sparkling brooch, totaling 30,000 rubles (do not forget that at that time it was 1,000 rubles very large amount!).
“But you are not deceiving me? Is it actually delivered from Paris?"
The charming madame left her business card and asked the jeweler to visit them tomorrow to make a calculation.
The next day, a perfumed and oiled jeweler stood at the door of the mansion minute by minute. He was kindly greeted by the doctor's charming wife, asked to go to her husband's office for the final payment, and she herself asked for a box of jewelry to immediately try them on with an evening dress. She led the jeweler into her husband's study, smiled at both of them, and left the men alone.
- What are you complaining about? the doctor asked sternly.
- Yes, here insomnia torments at times … - said von Meil in confusion. - But excuse me, I did not come to you to talk about my health, but to end the purchase of diamonds.
- Do you suffer from hallucinations? Do you hear the voices? the doctor continued the strange interrogation.
“I’ve lost my mind …” - the jeweler decided, and said aloud already angrily:
- Take the trouble to pay for the diamonds! What kind of performance are you playing here ?! Pay off with me immediately, or I will have to take your wife's jewelry, and immediately. Police!..
- The orderlies! - shouted the doctor, and two stalwart guys in white coats immediately tied poor von Meil.
Only a few hours later, hoarse from screaming and exhausted from trying to escape from the straitjacket, the jeweler was able to calmly present his version of what had happened to the psychiatrist. In turn, the doctor told him that the lady, whom they both saw for the first time, came to his office and said that her husband, the famous jeweler von Meil, was completely obsessed with diamonds. She made an appointment with her husband-jeweler and paid for two treatment sessions in advance …
When the police visited the jeweler, Sonya, the trace was gone …
In general, Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka had a strong passion for jewelry and wore them herself constantly - of course, not stolen, but "clean" jewelry. Looking at the lady with the ring at the cost of their annual salary, the clerks of jewelry stores could not think that they should be especially vigilant. With the help of her assistants, Sonya distracted the attention of the sellers, while she herself hid stones under long false nails (that's when the fashion for nail extension appeared!) Or replaced real stones with specially prepared (and similar) fake glass.
Once, during a search of one of the apartments of Sonya Zolotoy Ruchka, the detectives found there a specially tailored dress, the underskirt of which was so sewn to the top dress that it turned out like two huge pockets, where even a small roll of precious velvet or brocade.
In the intervals between her adventures, Sonya managed to marry again - to the old rich Jew Shelom Shkolnik, whom she probably abandoned for the sake of her new lover Michel Brener. Soon she almost got caught red-handed in St. Petersburg (escaped from the reception room of the Liteiny Department, leaving all the confiscated things and money). Bad luck. Maybe it's time to go on an "international tour"?
She traveled to the largest European cities, posing as a Russian aristocrat (with her thoroughbred appearance, exquisite taste and ability to speak fluently Yiddish, German, French, Russian, Polish, it was not at all difficult). She lived on a grand scale - in one day she could spend 15,000 rubles, for which she received the nickname Golden Hand in thieves' circles.
Sonya carefully prepared for each of her scams - she used wigs, false eyebrows, skillfully used make-up, to "create an image" she used expensive furs, Parisian dresses and hats and jewelry, for which she had a genuine passion.
But the main reason for her luck was all the same undoubted acting talent and subtle knowledge of human, more precisely, male psychology.
Palace - for free
It was a wonderful day, and Mikhail Dinkevich, the retired director of the Saratov gymnasium, decided to take a walk around St. Petersburg. He was in a great mood - after 25 years of service, having saved 125,000 for a small mansion, he decided to return to his homeland in Moscow with his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.
Hungry, he decided to go into the pastry shop and almost knocked down a beautiful stranger in the doorway, who dropped her purse and umbrella.
Dinkevich raised them, and excused himself, but noted to himself that the woman was not only beautiful, but also noble. And the seeming simplicity of her clothes, probably made by the best tailors of the capital, only emphasized her charm.
To make amends (but is it only because?), He invited a stranger to drink coffee with him, and ordered a glass of brandy himself. The lady introduced herself as a countess of a famous Moscow family. In a fit of extraordinary trust, Dinkevich told the stranger absolutely everything - both about the dream of a house in Moscow and about the 125,000 accumulated. To which the countess, after thinking for a few seconds, said that her husband had been appointed ambassador to Paris, and they had just started looking for a buyer for your mansion.
Not completely losing the ability to think soberly, the retired director reasonably remarked that his money could hardly be enough even for an extension to their mansion. To which the Countess softly said that they did not feel the need for money, they only would like their family estate to be in good hands. Dinkevich could not resist this argument, supported by a gentle shake of the hand and a gaze of velvet eyes. They agreed to meet on the train to Moscow.
In Moscow, a gleaming gilded carriage with monograms and emblems and an important coachman in white robes awaited the Countess. The Dinkevich family was already in Moscow, so they and the countess stopped by for them, and then went to her mansion. A real palace stood behind a lacy cast-iron fence! The provincial family opened their mouths and examined spacious rooms with mahogany furniture, cozy boudoirs with gilded chaise longues, lancet windows, bronze candlesticks, a park … a pond with carps … a garden with flower beds - and all for some 125,000!..
Yes, not just hands - feet, Dinkevich was ready to kiss for such an unexpected wealth that fell on him from heaven. Just think, he will soon become the owner of all this luxury! A butler in a powdered wig with a bow reported the received telegram, the maid brought it in on a silver tray, but the short-sighted countess could not make out the lines:
- Read it, please.
"Go out urgently, immediately sell the house, checkpoint. In a week, you will see the king of the checkpoint."
The Countess with the Dinkevichs went straight from the mansion to the notary she knew. The nimble fat man seemed to have jumped out to meet them from the dark reception room:
- What an honor, Countess! Do I dare to receive you in my humble establishment?..
While the notary's assistant was processing all the necessary documents, the notary occupied them with small talk. All 125,000 were transferred to the countess in the presence of a notary, and the Dinkevichs became the legal owners of the luxurious mansion …
You have already guessed that the countess was played by Sonya the Golden Hand herself, and the rest of the roles (coachman, butler, maid) were her accomplices. By the way, Sonya's first husband, Isaac Rosenbad, who had long forgiven her 500 rubles, which she stole from him, played the "role" of a notary. A couple of years after her escape, he became a buyer of stolen goods, and most of all he loved to deal with expensive watches and precious stones, and on a tip from his ex-wife, with whom he began to work together, he made a profit 100 times more than her first "debt ".
For two weeks the Dinkevichs could not recover from their happiness and were only counting their fabulous acquisitions, until … until they received an absolutely unexpected visit. The gates of the mansion opened, and two handsome tanned men appeared before the family. They turned out to be fashionable architects and … the rightful owners of the palace, which they rented for the duration of their long journey through Italy …
This story ended not at all funny. Realizing that he left the family without funds, having given all the money to the fraudster with his own hands, Dinkevich soon hanged himself in a cheap hotel room.
In addition to thefts in hotel rooms and major scams, Sonya had another specialization - theft on trains, comfortable first-class compartments in which wealthy businessmen, bankers, successful lawyers, wealthy landowners, colonels and generals traveled (from one industrialist she was able to simply steal an astronomical amount for those times - 213,000 rubles).
The love of theft on the railroad imperceptibly turned into love for the railway thief Mikhail Bluestein. Mikhail was a Romanian citizen, Odessa citizen and a successful thief. In this marriage, Sonya gave birth to a second daughter - Tabba (the first was brought up by her husband Isaac). But this, third, official marriage of Sonya was not long because of her windy disposition - her husband kept knocking her with the prince, then with the count - and it would be fine if it was a "job", but no, Sonya twisted her novels in free time…
She carried out compartment thefts according to practically the same scheme. Elegantly and richly dressed Sonya the Countess occupied the same compartment with a rich fellow traveler and subtly flirted with him, hinting at the possibility of a piquant adventure. When the companion relaxed, she added opium or chloroform to his drink.
Here is what is said in the materials of one criminal case about her next crime - the robbery of the banker Dogmarov.
“I met Countess Sophia San Donato at Cafe Franconi. During the conversation, she asked to change her rent of 1000 rubles. In a conversation, this lady told me that today she was leaving for Moscow by an eight-hour train. By this train I also departed from Odessa to Moscow. I asked permission to accompany her on the road. The lady agreed. We agreed to meet at the carriage.
At the appointed time, I was waiting for Mrs. San Donato with a box of chocolates. Already in the carriage, the Countess asked me to buy Benedictine from the buffet. I went out and gave instructions to the employee. In my memory, memories are preserved until the moment when I ate a few sweets. I don't remember what happened next, because I fell asleep. Cash and securities totaling 43,000 rubles were stolen from my travel bag."
The authority of Sonya Zolotoy Ruchka in the underworld was so high that she was even offered to join the Russian thieves' union "Red Jack", which, according to rumors, she even headed for several years. But there were also vague rumors that in fact Sonya's elusiveness depended not at all on "thieves' luck", but on the police, with whom she secretly collaborated, at times "handing over" her fellow craftsmen.
With age, Sonya becomes more sentimental. Once, having penetrated early in the morning into a rich hotel room, she saw an unsealed letter on the table, in which the young man sleeping on the bed confessed to his mother that he had embezzled government money, and asked forgiveness that he was leaving her and her sister alone, because he could not stand the shame and I must commit suicide … A revolver lay on the table next to the letter. Apparently, having written a letter, the young man was exhausted from the worries and fell asleep. He stole 300 rubles. Sonya put 500 rubles on the revolver and quietly left the room …
Once again, her conscience awakened when, after one robbery, she learned from the newspapers that she had robbed the widow of an official with two small children, who had recently buried her husband. Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka, despite her craft and long "business trips", loved her two daughters very much, pampered them endlessly and paid for an expensive education for them in France. Sympathizing with the poor widow she had robbed, she went to the post office and immediately sent all the stolen money and a telegram: “Merciful Empress! I read in the newspaper about the trouble that befell you. I return your money to you and advise you to hide it better from now on. Once again, I apologize to you. I bow to your poor babies."
How her luck changed
Perhaps the awakened conscience, or maybe a new passion for the young handsome man, contributed to the fact that Sonya began to change her luck. Time after time she was wrong and walked on the very edge of the razor - her photographs were printed in newspapers, she became very popular.
In addition, she, who was turning men as she wanted, suddenly fell in love desperately and selflessly. The hero of her heart was the 18-year-old thief Volodya Kochubchik (Wolf Bromberg), who became famous for having started stealing from the age of 8. Kochubchik, realizing his power over Sonya, stopped stealing himself, but he exploited her mercilessly, taking all the money she got and playing cards. He was capricious, spat on her, reproached her with age - in general, he behaved like a gigolo. However, Sonya forgave him everything, idolizing his mustache with a thread, a thin nimble figure and graceful hands … and went to get money at his first request.
It was Kochubchik who set her up. On the day of the angel, he gave Sonya a pendant with a blue diamond. He had no money for a gift, so he took the pendant from the jeweler on the security of the house, while the jeweler also paid him the difference in cash … And a day later Kochubchik returned the diamond, saying that he didn't like it. The perplexed jeweler did not fail to carefully examine the precious diamond. It is clear that it turned out to be fake, as well as the mortgaged house, which did not exist.
The jeweler took assistants and found Kochubchik himself. After a little thrashing, he said that Sonya had invented everything, who had given him both a fake mortgage on the house and a fake stone, and even said where they could find Sonya.
So she ended up in prison. It was then, by the way, that a documented description of her appearance appeared: "Height 153 cm, pockmarked face, nose with wide nostrils, thin lips, wart on her right cheek."
And where is the beauty that drove everyone crazy? Perhaps the police looked at her with “wrong” eyes?.. Here is how another eyewitness described Sonya: “… A woman of short stature, about 30 years old. She, if not beautiful now, but only pretty, pretty, after all, I suppose was a pretty spicy woman a few years ago. The rounded forms of the face with a slightly upturned, somewhat wide nose, thin even eyebrows, sparkling cheerful eyes of dark color, strands of dark hair, lowered on an even, round forehead, involuntarily bribe everyone in her favor (…).
The costume also shows taste and the ability to dress (…). She keeps herself extremely calm, confident and bold. It can be seen that she is not at all embarrassed by the court situation, she has already seen the views and knows all this perfectly. That is why he speaks boldly, boldly and is not in the least embarrassed. The pronunciation is quite clean and complete familiarity with the Russian language …"
A snow-white handkerchief, lace cuffs and kid gloves complemented the image of the prisoner. Sonya the Golden Hand fought desperately for her freedom - she did not admit any accusations or evidence, denied that she was the Golden Hand and lives on funds from theft - she, they say, exists on the funds that her husband sends her and … for gifts lovers.
However, there was too much public outcry, there were too many crimes behind her - perhaps there was not enough evidence, but the court ruled to deprive her of all rights and exile to Siberia.
And handsome Kochubchik "for his help in the investigation" received 6 months of forced labor (workhouse). Coming out, he gave up the theft, collected all the money that Sonya brought him, and soon became a wealthy homeowner.
And Sonya lived for 5 years in a remote village of Irkutsk province. In the summer of 1885, she decided to run away. True, she did not have to walk in the wild for long, only 5 months, but she managed to crank up several high-profile scams in her "corporate" style.
… The Courland Baroness Sophia Buxgewden, accompanied by a noble family - a gray-haired father and a French Bonnie with a plump baby in her arms, dropped in to a jewelry store in N. Having picked up a collection of jewelry worth 25,000 rubles, the baroness suddenly remembered that “oh, what an annoying oversight” - she forgot her money at home. Taking the jewelry and leaving the baby's father "hostage", she hurried to get cash. And she didn’t come back… Three hours later the jeweler was tearing his hair out - in the police station the old man and the bonna admitted that the lady had hired them at an advertisement in the newspaper.
But luck has turned away from Sonya now forever. She was again seized and put in prison in Smolensk. For escape from Siberia, she is sentenced to 3 years in hard labor and 40 lashes. But while the process lasted, Sonya managed to charm all the warders - she entertained them with stories from her own life, sang in French and recited poetry. Non-commissioned officer Mikhailov, a tall handsome man with a magnificent mustache, could not resist her charms and, secretly handing over a civilian dress, took the prisoner out of prison.
Four more months of freedom, and Sonya was again in prison, now in Nizhny Novgorod. She was sentenced to hard labor on Sakhalin Island.
At the stage, she got along with a hardened thief and murderer nicknamed Bloch and, meeting with him in the barrack hallway, having previously paid money to the guard, persuaded him to flee.
Blokha already had the experience of escaping from Sakhalin. He knew that it was not so difficult to escape from there: it was necessary to get through the hills to the Tatar Strait, there is the smallest distance to the mainland that can be crossed on a raft.
But Sonya was afraid to walk through the taiga and was afraid of hunger. Therefore, she persuaded Bloch to act differently - to change into a convoy herself and "escort" Bloch along the well-trodden roads. The flea killed the guard, Sonya changed her clothes and … the plan failed. The strange guard aroused suspicion, Bloha was quickly recognized and caught, and Sonya, having managed to escape, wandered through the taiga and went straight to the cordon.
Flea was sentenced to shackles and given 40 lashes. When he was flogged, he shouted loudly: “For the cause! Beat me for the cause, your honor!.. So I need it! Babu listened!.."
Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka turned out to be pregnant, and the punishment was postponed, but in speed she had a miscarriage, and for another escape she was punished with a flogging. The execution was carried out by a terrible Sakhalin executioner, who, with a blow of a whip, could kill a thin log. They gave her 15 lashes, and the prisoners stood around and hooted to the "thief queen". They put shackles on her hands, which in three years had so disfigured her hands that she could no longer engage in theft, and she could hardly hold a pen.
She was kept alone, where she was visited by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who was driving through Sakhalin. This is what he wrote in his Sakhalin Island:
“Of those sitting in solitary confinement, the famous Sofia Bluestein, the Golden Hand, who was sentenced to three years of hard labor for escaping from Siberia, attracts attention. This is a small, thin, already graying woman with a rumpled old woman's face (she was only about 40!). She has shackles on her hands; on the bunk there is only a gray sheepskin coat, which serves her both as warm clothing and as a bed. She walks around her cell from corner to corner, and it seems that she is constantly sniffing the air, like a mouse in a mousetrap, and her expression is mouse-like. Looking at her, it is hard to believe that until recently she was beautiful to such an extent that she charmed her jailers, as, for example, in Smolensk, where the warden helped her escape and ran with her himself."
Sonya was visited by many writers and journalists who visited Sakhalin. For a fee, it was even possible to take pictures with her. Sonya was very worried about this humiliation. Perhaps more than shackles and flogging.
“They tortured me with these photos,” she confessed to journalist Doroshevich.
Many, by the way, did not believe that it was Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka who was convicted and was serving hard labor, even the officials thought that this was a figurehead. Doroshevich met with Sonya and, although he saw her only from photographs taken before the trial, he claimed that Sonya was genuine: “Yes, these are the remains of that one. The eyes are still the same. These wonderful, infinitely pretty, velvet eyes."
After the end of her term, Sonya remained in the settlement and became the mistress of a small leaven. She traded in stolen goods, traded vodka from under the counter, and even organized for the settlers something like a cafe with an orchestra, to which they arranged dances.
But she, who lived in the best hotels in Europe, finds it hard to come to terms with such a life, and she decided on the last escape …
She was only able to walk a few kilometers. The soldiers found her face down on the road leading to freedom.
After a few days of fever, Sonya died.
But faith in a fairy tale, a legend is so strong in people that such a prosaic death of Sonya the Golden Hand did not suit anyone. And another fate was invented for her. Sonya allegedly lived in Odessa under a different name (and another went to hard labor instead of her), and even indicated her house on Prokhorovskaya Street. And when her next lover was shot by the Chekists, she drove in a car along Deribasovskaya and scattered money at the commemoration of the soul.
According to the second version, Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka spent her last years in Moscow with her daughters (who actually abandoned her as soon as they learned from the newspapers that she was a thief). She was buried in the Vagankovskoye cemetery, under a monument of Italian work, depicting a young and beautiful woman. On this unmarked grave you can always find fresh flowers, and the base of the monument is painted with requests and confessions of the modern lads: "Teach me how to live!", "Brothers remember you and grieve", "Give happiness to the Zhigan!" …
But this is only a beautiful legend …
V. Pimenova
Recommended for viewing: Sonya golden pen. Legends of bandit Odessa