This is a captivating story of two strong female characters. There’s Katya, who (as a girl) escapes from the siege of Leningrad and is evacuated to Tashkent. In the post war city, overcrowded with people from all parts of the country in desperate and greedy need to survive, Katya quickly learns to use her original skill of grasping mere details and a natural talent for mimicry for criminal purpose: a swindler in local markets at first, she grows into a ruthless head of cannabis smuggling net. Her daughter Vera inherits her mother’s sharp eye and an ingenious talent, but chooses differently, becoming a true artist with a bright international career. Both mother’s and daughter’s ways to professional recognition are nothing less but trying, filled with tragic mistakes, unendurable loss(es) and one true love.

The entwining life stories of the novel’s two heroines are drawn against a gaudy background of an Oriental city, Tashkent, with its sun-soaked bazaars, crowded yards and a picturesque and engaging cast of characters representing different cultural, ethnical and social backgrounds. This lavishness of the story is masterly reflected in the novel’s complex structure. The drama of a bitter mother and daughter confrontation is intersected with numerous first-person narratives from Tashkent’s former residents as they remember the city of their childhood and youth, as well as the author’s own colorful childhood memories.

In this novel Rubina succeeds with brilliance in mastering writing skills that make her literary trademarks: the author’s juicy Babelesque language; a gripping narrative’s plot; a tender humor, grit and passion in a unanimous accord; a vivid, real-life details and characters.