Michael D. O'Brien · 2011 · global

Michael O'Brien's 2011 novel. When his grown son vanishes from Oxford into a shadowy religious sect, the quiet Canadian bookseller Alex Graham sets out to find him - a search that carries him across Europe and the whole width of Russia by rail, from Helsinki and Saint Petersburg to Moscow, Siberia and Lake Baikal, and on into China, transforming the father as he goes.

1. 1
   Halcyon

   Alex Graham's small Ontario town, where he keeps a struggling bookshop and a widower's quiet life.

2. 2
   Oxford

   Where his son Andrew was studying before he vanished without a word over the Christmas holidays.

3. 3
   Helsinki

   Alex crosses into the north, following the faint thread of his son's trail toward Russia.

4. 4
   Saint Petersburg

   The old imperial capital, first of the Russian cities in Alex's desperate search.

5. 5
   Moscow

   Down the Arbat and through the churches, Alex hunts for word of Andrew and his handlers.

6. 6
   Novosibirsk

   Aboard the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Alex is carried ever deeper into the Russian vastness.

7. 7
   Irkutsk

   The gateway to Lake Baikal, where the trail goes cold and Alex is robbed and beaten.

8. 8
   Lake Baikal

   In a village on the great lake, the physician Irina nurses Alex back from the edge of death.

9. 9
   China

   Mistaken for a spy and carried across the border, Alex endures captivity before a deliverance.