Michael Lobachev of Burnaby, 45 years old in 2012, has a Ph.D. in computer science and taught for fifteen years as the head of Computer Science department of Odessa National University in Ukraine. In the later years became CEO of a group of companies and worked on Asian and European markets. Having written numerous scientific works and two textbooks, he gathered family memories and personal experience for a book about Ukraine, published in Ukraine, in the Russian language, in February of 2012, entitled (translation) A Nocturne by Dr. Freud.

According to Lobachev: "This book tells of a country that no longer exists. It is described as it is remembered by witnesses of those events that took place during those times. The events described herein took place in Ukraine, from the times before the October Revolution and until the present. While the people, that could share their experience, were still alive, it seemed as if there is a whole eternity ahead of us, and we can always visit them, and listen to their stories. Listen the stories of how it really happened - about the Red army, the Revolution, the holodomor, World War II, Perestroika and about the disappearance of a country named USSR from the face of the world - a huge country, which in many ways influenced the world politics.
The story is not about the presidential summits, it is about what really served as a reason for the rotting, and collapsing, and what, like a virus, can strike any government out there. It tells about war and hunger, infamy and dignity and about acts of humanity. Of how some have betrayed themselves, and others didn't, and paid the price for this decision - their life. It's about the attitudes of people towards certain things, and human values, about their view on life and behaviour - things that do not disappear, and can resurface in any country and in any society. When the people that were witnesses of these events and whose versions of them was radically different from the official ones, which above all else are constantly changing, began leaving this world one by one, I realised, that I don't have that much time, and I that I have no right to forget this, without revealing it to others."

The book consists of four parts.
The first part, "The Stories of My Grandma"; is a narrative, which in 14 little stories describes the events which took place in Ukraine during the period of revolution, the oppressions by Stalin, and events of World War II. These are live testimonies of eye-witnesses, through a lens of global transformation, which took place in a society, and are presented in the form of novelettes. The second part is a description of events during the times of collapse of the Soviet Union, which are based on author's personal experiences. Third is a cycle of novelettes, titled as "Fairytales for Adults";. It is followed by personal reflections in "Thoughts out loud,"; from the perspective of Lobachev in Vancouver.

In 2012, Lobachev began to look for a publisher for this book in English.

[BCBW 2012] "Ukraine"