The Secret History of Moscow

Every city contains secret places. Moscow in the tumultuous 1990s is no different, its citizens seeking safety in a world below the streets -- a dark, cavernous world of magic, weeping trees, and albino jackdaws, where exiled pagan deities and faerytale creatures whisper strange tales to those who would listen. Galina is a young woman caught, like her contemporaries, in the seeming lawlessness of the new Russia. In the midst of this chaos, her sister Maria turns into a jackdaw and flies away -- prompting Galina to join Yakov, a policeman investigating a rash of recent disappearances. Their search will take them to the underground realm of hidden truths and archetypes, to find themselves caught between reality and myth, past and present, honor and betrayal . . . the secret history of Moscow. Just released from a mental hospital, Galina, a young translator and recovering schizophrenic, doesn't quite believe her eyes when her pregnant sister abruptly gives birth and changes into a fleeing jackdaw. Yet others across the city witness similar transformations, including Yakov, a neighborhood detective assigned to investigate a disturbing epidemic of missing-person cases. When street artist Fyodor stumbles on a surprising clue to the avian mystery, Galina and Yakov follow him through a magic portal visible only in window reflections and into an underground world of forgotten misfits and mythical creatures.