The contemporary narrative focuses on Marina as an elderly woman in Seattle. When her family reunites for her granddaughter’s wedding, it becomes clear that her lapses of memory and confusion have reached a crisis point. Her husband Dmitri, also a survivor of the war, tries to compensate for her dementia, but even he cannot cover up Marina’s retreat into her memories of the past.

The use of parallel narratives has flaws. The wartime narration by Marina has the strongest voice; it is historically interesting, well written and compelling. The characters are beautifully imagined, and it is a wonderful evocation of the types of roles women played during war. Dean has combined this with Marina’s vignettes of the artworks, ostensibly from her days as a guide. While these are usually no longer than a page, they fragment the story. The present-day story narrated by Marina gives us insight into her state of mind, but Dean also introduces Marina’s daughter Helen as an occasional narrator, causing the contemporary narrative to lack depth and continuity. Helen’s perceptions are interesting, but they are primarily about her failed marriage and dissatisfaction with her life, and they add little to Marina’s story. First-time novelist Dean has, perhaps, tried to put too much detail into this work, rather than focusing on one particular character and time frame.