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"Boundless imagination and a vibrant style . . . a heroine of unforgettable grit" DAVID GROSSMAN
"A story of great beauty and surprise" GARY SHTEYNGART
The townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann - devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker - leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night.
True, the husbands of Motal have been vanishing for years, but a wife and mother? Whoever heard of such a thing. What on earth possessed her?
Could it have anything to do with Fanny''s missing brother-in-law, who left her sister almost a year ago and ran away to Minsk, abandoning their family to destitution and despair?