In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land . . . a young girl lived happily in Moscow with her sister, father, and eccentric mother who liked to tell fairy tales and collect porcelain dolls.
One night, everything changed, and all that remained of that family were the girl and her mother. Now, a decade later and studying at Oxford University, Rosie has an English name, a loving fiance, and a promising future. After her mother dies, Rosie returns to Russia, armed with little more than her mother's strange folklore - and a single key. What she uncovers is a devastating family history that spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin's purges, and beyond.