“The Place of Love” (The Glass Curtain) is the final part of the novel “Birch Grove.” Its main heroine, Valentina Lebedeva, a provincial masseuse with a gift for healing, turns out to be the country’s top-rated TV presenter. The story takes place in 1996: Russia is buzzing on the eve of the presidential election, and for the first time dark political technologies are unleashed on the population. Because of fraudulently made commercials, Valentina is ready to leave television. But the producer Ada Rudol’ph sends her “to cool off” on official trips in Sweden and Denmark—helping Valentina see herself and her country in a new light.
At a reception at Danish Queen Margrethe II, Valentina meets a healer from Bolivia, who performs a purification ritual for her. Returning home, Valentina becomes a victim of dirty publications about her relationship with Deputy Goryayev, part of Yeltsin’s inner circle. Yet a new chapter in the story—triggered by the presidential election—opens not only for all of Russia, but for Valentina’s family as well: she falls in love, and so does her adopted daughter Vika…