Zhenia is adrift in Los Angeles, pregnant with a baby her husband doesn't want, while her beloved Russian grandmother is dying on the opposite coast. Then she gets a call from Paul, a psychic medium who usually specializes in channeling dead pets, with a message from the other side. Her great-grandmother Irina, a Russian Revolutionary, has approached him, desperate to tell her story and receive absolution from Zhenia.
Katya Apekina makes the concept of ancestral connection fascinatingly tangible ... Apekina’s writing is witty and compellingly relatable, leading to a fast-paced reading experience.
Apekina’s keen portrayals of morally complicated women transcend any gimmickry, and her depictions of Petrograd in the early 20th century feel startlingly present.
