"Russian Canary. The Voice" by Dina Rubina, summary

Dina Rubina’s 2014 novel continues the family saga of the descendants of a Kyiv bird catcher and Odessa musicians. This book is a fast-paced spy thriller, richly interwoven with opera music, Eastern special operations, and a tragic love story. The protagonist lives a double life: on stage, he’s a world-renowned countertenor, and behind the scenes, he’s a cold-blooded Israeli intelligence agent tracking arms dealers.

The Vienna Meeting and Secrets of the Intelligence Services

The action opens in a sophisticated Viennese restaurant. Nathan Kaldman, the head of a secret Israeli intelligence unit, meets with his former agent, Leon Etinger. Nathan persuades Leon, now a famous singer with the stage name Kenar Rusi, to travel to Thailand. The operatives’ goal is to find Andrei Krushevich, a former Soviet nuclear physicist. Krushevich is suspected of smuggling radioactive materials for the creation of a "dirty bomb." The deals are covered by a Persian carpet company run by an elusive merchant nicknamed "Kazakh." Nathan’s subordinates believe Krushevich is hiding on the yacht "Zeus."

Leon categorically refuses to return to intelligence work. The singer enjoys European freedom and music. However, before leaving, he gives Nathan a gift: he points to Iranian nuclear scientist Dariush al-Mohammadi, whose face has been altered by plastic surgery, sitting at the next table. The singer extracted this information from his lover, a violist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Satisfied, Nathan orders his men to keep an eye on the Iranian.

Etinger’s memories of his youth in Jerusalem flash back to him. He grew up poor with his eccentric mother, Vladka, and moved into a basement thanks to the kindness of supermarket owner Avram. Leon enrolled in a good school, where he befriended Nathan’s son, Meir, and the daring beauty, Gabriela. Their friendship ended on the night of a severe thunderstorm: after having sex with Leon, Gabriela went to bed with Meir. The brutal fight with her former friend forever changed the young man. He became embittered, took up hand-to-hand combat with trainer Syomka Ben-Yoram, and freediving, and then joined the Mista’arvim special forces, whose fighters disguise themselves as Arabs during combat missions.

At the same time, Leon became close to Magda’s uncle, the veteran intelligence officer Immanuel, who used a wheelchair. A wealthy and aesthete, Immanuel, who in his youth had purchased weapons for Israel on the old steamship "Victor Adele," recognized the young man’s talent, bought him an expensive Japanese clarinet, and introduced him to high society. When the eccentric Vladka revealed that Leon’s father was a nameless Arab, the young man nearly went mad. And during one of their military operations, Leon snapped and brutally maimed the terrorist Ismail Rajab, avenging the brutal deaths of his informants — the brothers Kunya and Rahman, and the antique dealer Adil. Immanuel and Nathan’s connections saved the young man from prison. The old man advised the young man to quit the intelligence services and devote his life to music.

Leon left for Moscow, where a former prisoner and talented teacher, Kondrat Fedorovich, discovered his rare gift — a countertenor voice. Training and a contract with the Parisian agent Philippe Guichard made Etinger a star. Leon bought an antique piano, settled on Paris’s Rue Aubriot, and tried to forget the past by rehearsing with the squeamish German accompanist Robert Berman. The singer dazzled at social events, began affairs with billionaire heiresses, like the Swiss Nicole, but deep down, he remained a lonely wanderer.

Jum Island and an Unexpected Solution

Despite his initial refusal, Leon finally arrives in Thailand, trying to track down Krushevich. On the secluded island of Jum, he encounters a deaf photographer named Aya. She can read lips and recognizes him as a patron of the Viennese restaurant where she worked as a waitress. She had seen the singer silently humming the old romance "Faceted Glasses." Astonished, Leon notices a coin in her ear — a platinum chervonets. The operative realizes: this is a descendant of Nikolai Kablukov, a man inextricably linked to the Odessa branch of the Etinger family.

Leon invites the wanderer onto a rented peniche. Over dinner, Aya talks about her colorful life, breakdancing in Sudak, and working on an Arab fishing boat in Gaza disguised as a mute sailor. She shows cycles of reportage photos on her laptop: smiling London workers with Down syndrome and the bloody self-torture of Thai fanatics during a vegetarian festival in Phuket. Looking through photographs from an antique shop in Jerusalem, the operative recognizes his late agent, Adil. A respectable man is pictured next to the antique dealer. Aya calls him her grandfather, Friedrich Bonnke, who lives in England and is half German and half Kazakh. Etinger’s perfect intelligence memory instantly connects the dots, recalling his secretary’s slip of the tongue about the name "Kazak." The mysterious arms dealer, Kazakh, is a relative of the deaf girl.

That night on the boat, Leon and Aya’s passion flares up. In the morning, realizing that Israeli intelligence is already searching for Bonke and will inevitably find Aya, Leon decides to protect her. He conceals his feelings, bids a cold farewell to the photographer at Krabi airport, secretly slipping her money, and flies to Paris. From the airport, he sends Magda a postcard with a clear hint about Kazakh’s London hideout, hoping to mislead the detectives. In Paris, Etinger, overcome by melancholy, meets former pirate and informant Knopka Liu at a flea market, trying to extract new information about Kazakh’s Iranian connections.

Threat and escape

Early in the morning, Nathan and detective Shauli visit the singer in his Parisian apartment on Rue Aubriot. The visitors report that Aya’s identity has been established. Intelligence analysts have identified her in old photographs. Shauli puts pressure on Leon, demanding he reveal the fugitive’s whereabouts. The girl, who accidentally photographed the lists of deadly weapons in Friedrich’s safe, has been sentenced. Gunther, Kazakh’s son and a ruthless killer, is hunting her. It turns out that Friedrich’s housekeeper, Big Bertha, overheard the assassination plan and gave Aya £500 for her escape. The intelligence services want to use Aya as bait to catch the criminals.

Leon lies to his former handlers, claiming, "I’ve lost all contact with her and don’t know where she is." As soon as the agents leave, the countertenor disrupts his opera rehearsal schedule, breaks ties with his Swiss lover Nicole, infuriates his manager Philippe, and secretly flies to Kazakhstan using one of the fake passports in the name of Ariadna von Schneller. The agency is adept at producing top-notch documents, and the opera singer passes through border control without difficulty.

In Alma-Ata, Etinger finds the home of Ilya Konstantinovich, Aya’s father. In the basement, filled with dozens of cages containing singing canaries, the guest reveals his true name and demonstrates his unique voice. The host, with tears in his eyes, recognizes him as a relative of the famous Eska. Ilya casually shares an interesting detail: Andrei Krushevich nearly died of a uranium allergy right there in the basement, after inhaling a specific bird food. Leon begs him to give him Aya’s phone number to save her from certain death. Ilya refuses, citing his daughter’s freedom-loving nature, but allows him to leave his contact information in Paris. Taking away the canary he gave her, Zheltukhin the Fifth, the singer hopes for a miracle.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, an exhausted Aya hides in a filthy squat with her friend, the pimp Louise, and a drug addict, Yurcha. Yurcha steals the dollars Leon left behind from the sleeping girl. The fugitive falls into a heavy, restful sleep, hiding from London nightmares and the threat of violence from Gunther and Elena.

The book’s events end with a long-awaited reunion: early one morning, Aya appears on the threshold of Leon’s Parisian apartment with a suitcase. She removes her makeup and heavy piercings, timidly asking, "Is this better?" The heavy doors close behind her, locking tight. The newlyweds fall into an embrace, accompanied by the ringing trills of a Russian canary, masterfully singing the verses of an old song.