When the statue of a golden bear is found walled up in a dilapidated St. Petersburg bathhouse owned by her family, Rosa Kovalenka knows in her heart that this is no trick of fate. Her uncle thinks of treasure, but Rosa fears the bear is much more. She pleads with her old friend and lover, Daniel St. Clare, to help identify the relic and perhaps take the bear far away from those she loves. St. Clare agrees and sets out for the university in Arkhangelsk with the bear to verify its age. But along the way his journey is mysteriously set adrift: Maps are suddenly useless, cars and cell phones inexplicably stop working, and, lost and exhausted, he stumbles, sinking even deeper into the secrets and terrors of the Russian landscape.Rosa fears the worst when Daniel goes missing and, full of shame and sudden longing, resolves to find him. But to do so means confronting her past and secrets that she has fought to suppress. The only way to save him is to go where she encounters the haunted Chenchikov clan, a family with its own shadowy tangle of grief, desire, and treachery. And to the unknowable, impenetrable Russian forest where she meets an enigmatic wanderer who is full of tales and riddles of times past. He is a being who knows tales of a very old bear and the fate of lovers old and new.And who holds the key to the balance of all the magic in the world. Read Less