June 1941, Eastern Europe As the German blitzkrieg tears across a divided continent, four young lives are thrown into chaos: Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a scientist; Czesław, an underage Polish deserter fleeing the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivization; and a nameless, abandoned boy who cannot speak. Driven deep into the Lithuanian woods, they form an unbreakable bond with one another and with a flock of crows whose uncanny intelligence hints at a secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined. From the Locus and Hugo Award-winning author Ray Nayler, this haunting novel blends history and speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.