A Time to Gather Stones by Elena Mikhalkova, Summary

This 2007 psychological detective story explores the destructive power of deep-rooted revenge and the secrets of the past hidden behind the façade of prosperous village life, with a gradual buildup of anxiety as ordinary everyday scenes give way to terrifying discoveries and brutal reprisals, and the main source of evil is revealed to be the cowardice of a loved one.

Moving to Kalinovo and old secrets

Successful businessman Viktor Chernyavsky and his young wife, Tonya, are moving from the capital to the village of Kalinovo. Viktor has purchased a large, beautiful house where he once spent his summer vacations. Tonya, a former seamstress, tries her best to please her husband. She braids her hair tightly, cooks exquisite dishes, and strives to be the perfect homemaker. But the old house seems to resist its new owners. The floorboards creak, the furniture is out of place, and strange sounds are heard at night. The locals are wary of the couple. A neighbor, Aunt Shura, drops by with a terrifying revelation: the previous owners, the large family of a local postman, have disappeared without a trace or died. The neighboring house, where Viktor’s friend Andrei lived, is also empty.

Soon, Tonya finds a scrap of paper in an old chest of drawers with a poem by Joseph Brodsky about dead people overgrown with grass. Victor claims he knows nothing about the piece of paper.

Neighbors and the Hidden Threat

Victor reconnects with old childhood friends — Aunt Shura’s sons, Kolya and Sasha. The boys often visit the Chernyavskys, reminiscing about the past. Other people live in the village as well: plastic surgeon Arkady Leonidovich and his wife, local alcoholic Evgraf, and the wealthy Rybkin couple. Glafira Rybkina once tricked her grandmother into committing suicide by committing suicide for her inheritance. The Chernyavskys pay the Rybkin family a visit. Tonya feels uncomfortable in their ornate mansion and accidentally offends her hostess with a remark about her children. Enraged, Glafira performs a magical ritual, attempting to harm her guest.

Tonya’s health is rapidly deteriorating. She dreams of having a son, but instead suffers from bleeding and severe pain. Moscow gynecologist Iraida Andreyevna assures her that she is completely healthy. Desperate, Tonya turns to the local healer Antonina, considered a true witch in the village, for a potion. Antonina administers a bitter medicine, but acts intimidatingly, muttering incantations over an oak stump and demanding five thousand rubles. The potion helps, and Tonya feels better.

A series of brutal murders

Tensions mount when, early in the morning, Tonya discovers Glafira Rybkina hanged in her apple orchard. The village is abuzz with terrifying rumors. Local police officer Stepan Kapitsa begins asking questions. Soon, a second murder occurs. Early in the morning, Viktor finds the body of plastic surgeon Arkady Leonidovich on the porch. The edges of the dead doctor’s lips are sewn to his earlobes with thick thread, forming a creepy, clownish smile. The deranged old man Evgraf lies in wait for Tonya on the snowy street, shouting that the house is outliving the Chernyavskys. The alcoholic tears the fear from her face, noisily inhaling air, and prophesies a terrible death for the girl. Tonya grows increasingly afraid, but her husband flatly refuses to leave Kalinovo. He buys a pistol and prepares to defend the property, giving his wife a canister of pepper spray.

Police investigation and old sins

District prosecutor Ivan Kolomeyev and local police officer Kapitsa launch a full-scale investigation. Under police pressure, Viktor is forced to reveal a long-held secret from his childhood. Many years ago, teenagers were spying through binoculars on the yard of the witch Antonina. They saw the healer treating a stray drug addict from a neighboring village by whipping him with a rope. Fearing the dangerous neighborhood, Viktor persuaded the postman’s sons, Mishka and Senka, to set fire to Antonina’s barn. The boys doused the wood with gasoline, and the flames immediately erupted. The fugitive drug addict burned to death. Mishka took the blame and received a long prison sentence. Senka later died in a fire from an unextinguished cigarette, and their sister Zhenka sold the house and moved away. The postman’s parents died of grief. Viktor escaped punishment because his family hastily fled the country.

Prosecutors are searching for a vengeful suspect among their former comrades. Suspicion falls on brothers Kolya and Sasha, who are detained, but the boys have a reliable alibi. The name of another friend, Andrei, also comes up. As a child, Viktor bluntly revealed to Andrei the secret of his adoption, revealing that the boy’s real mother was a prostitute. His friend’s outburst caused the teenager to suffer a nervous breakdown. Investigators travel to Moscow to visit Andrei’s adoptive parents. It turns out that Andrei had fought in the war in Chechnya and is now in a closed psychiatric clinic. Doctors confirm that he strictly adhered to the regimen and never left the sanatorium.

Hunter Zhenya and the attack

Panic intensifies. Tonya goes to the witch Antonina again to give her money. On her way back, she meets the hunter Zhenya Gurich. A flabby, unattractive man with a sparse beard, he rents a room from Granny Stepanida. Zhenya helps the locals repair fences and doors and bakes delicious cookies with buckwheat honey. The man appears calm, scolding the drunken Evgraf and defending Tonya. Viktor’s wife returns home, but a bad feeling haunts her. That night, Tonya sees a white paper mask with black slits for the eyes outside the window. Viktor runs out into the yard with a pistol, but finds no one there. That day, Tonya encounters Evgraf, who takes the mask he found under the apple tree, tears it into pieces, and throws her into a snowdrift. Police officer Kapitsa arrives and saves the businessman’s wife from the crazed old man.

The true face of the killer

The denouement comes one evening at the Chernyavskys’ house. While packing for departure, Tonya quarrels with Viktor over his cruelty. In a fit of rage, she throws her cell phone at the wall and smashes a large mirror into tiny pieces. Hunter Zhenya enters the house to say goodbye. Police officer Kapitsa appears immediately after, gun pointed at him. The policeman puts the pieces together and figures out who is hiding behind the guise of the inconspicuous man. Hunter Zhenya Gurich turns out to be Zhenya Basmanova — the sister of the very same convicted arsonist brothers.

The girl sold her apartment in Voronezh and paid for a gender reassignment surgery. The arduous physical transformation and hormone therapy were necessary for one purpose: brutal revenge. Zhenya returned to Kalinovo disguised as a hard-working man to destroy Viktor for ruining her family’s lives.

Zhenya recounts visiting her older brother, Mishka, in prison. Imprisonment had broken the boy. Mishka had gone mad, lost his human form, and turned into a mocking animal with a twitching eye. Unable to bear the grief, Zhenya decided to punish the true culprit of the tragedy. Glafira and the surgeon died because they accidentally discovered her secret. Rybkina, renowned for her good memory for faces, recognized the girl next door. Plastic surgeon Mysin noticed distinctive scars from the surgeries. Zhenya stabbed the alcoholic Evgraf to death with a long knife, placing the dead body on a chair in the Chernyavskys’ lounge. The old man, having guessed the hunter’s identity, rejoiced at the murders, and thwarted the plan by frightening Tonya.

The end of the story

The police surround the house. Realizing she won’t be able to take revenge on Viktor, Zhenya quietly picks up a sharp shard of broken mirror from the floor. With a swift movement, the avenger slits her throat deeply. The hunter dies on the floor in a pool of blood before the eyes of his shocked neighbors and the police.

Victor feels an incredible sense of relief. The businessman plans to continue living in his beloved home, believing himself to be absolutely right. He is convinced that the Basmanov brothers are to blame for their own stupidity, and that he merely suggested the idea. Tonya, shocked by her husband’s impenetrable selfishness, callousness, and cowardice, packs her bags. She finally realizes that it was Victor who caused the chain of deaths, destroying the postman’s family and crippling Andrey’s psyche. The house is evicting the couple, their belongings are falling apart. Tonya refuses to stay with a man completely devoid of conscience. She leaves Victor forever, taking an evening bus to freezing Moscow.

The epilogue transports the reader to the twisted cast-iron fence of the hospital. Now an adult and having endured difficult life trials, Andrei is strolling through the snowy park. At the gate, he meets Tonya. The young people gaze at each other in silence, and Tonya quietly pronounces his name. A lone oak leaf breaks from a branch and is carried by the wind into the clear sky, promising spring to come.