Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been lifeless for years. Among her brothers continues to be conscripted into the Tsar’s military, the other taken as a servant in the house of the neighborhood landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is absolutely no food. But a train arrives in the community, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family on the way to go to the Tsar in Saint Petersburg-a family members which includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena’s age. When the two women’ lives collide, an experience is set in movement, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked inside a tower, a prince touring incognito, and-in a starring part just Gregory Maguire could possess conjured-a wise-cracking Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory home perched on poultry legs. Get better at storyteller Gregory Maguire surpasses himself within this stunning book for listeners of most ages.