Using the framework of a crime thriller, two young sisters are abducted by a strange man in a large black, clean car, and the month-by-month search that follows. The novel is a series of intertwined short stories told from the perspective of various women. With no main detective or investigator, the setting is the main character, the Kamchatka Peninsula, located on the Russian border along the Pacific Ocean, neighbor to the north of Japan. A land of dormant volcanoes, endless tundra, deep forests, small villages, and a couple of larger cities, we see the land through the eyes of different women— the sole eye witness of the abduction, college students, professionals, a new mother, older women. We hear of the nostalgia for former Soviet days, and the older generations’ dislike of the new capitalist openness, bringing foreigners like Japanese and Korean tourists, and Uzbek, Tajik, and other foreign workers. We also learn of the longstanding prejudices between native peoples and “white” Russians, that the younger generation is gradually wearing down. We see a fair that celebrates native culture, food, craft, and dance. Always we circle back to the missing girls, as no progress is made,and month by month time ticks by, with no hope.

The women who are featured in each story all share a sense of loss, despair, sadness, and often betrayal. The men take them for granted, cheat on them, have children with them, then abandon them either entirely, or just emotionally. There are a couple of faithful, sensitive men, but they are the great exception. The women are left to raise the children and support the family; even the mother of the missing girls is a single mother, struggling to make a living and keep the children safe, after the father deserts the family for Moscow. The great natural beauty of the Peninsula is a contrast with the despair felt by the women who share their stories.

The story of Marina is shared last, in the June after the previous August abduction of Alyona and Sophia, her young daughters. The girls roam the city and beach area during the summer before school starts, with Alyona telling her sister stories to amuse herself and her younger sister. Marina, an award-winning investigative journalist, gave up that rewarding pursuit when her husband abandoned them, now writing whatever government puff pieces will pay the bills, and not take her away from her daughters. Hearing Marina’s experience over these months is heart-breaking, as she is urged by all to move on with her life, and face the hard truth that she will never see the girls alive again. Her quest for closure, and weak signal of hope are all that sustain her. I recommend this unique book, one of the New York Times best books of 2019. While relentlessly sad, it also has honest emotional complexity, and a beautiful backdrop that the author paints very realistically.