A summary of "The Bear Girl" by Boris Akunin Automatic translate

The book is a bright and profound story about post-war Moscow, published in 2022. The plot centers on the intertwined destinies of people scarred by terrible historical upheavals. A remarkable doctor helps the characters find peace. She has developed a psychological screening technique for finding ideal life partners.

This work is part of the historical series "Family Album." It is the fifth book in the series. It continues the story of the Klobukov family. The series also includes the novels "Aristonomy," "Another Path," "Happy Russia," "Tresorium," "A Dog’s Death," and "On the Sleigh."

Loneliness and egochemistry

The action takes place in 1955. Fifty-nine-year-old academic anesthesiologist Anton Markovich Klobukov lives a solitary life. He is writing a philosophical treatise. The scientist seeks refuge from the pain of his memories through the works of Schopenhauer. His wife, Mirra, died during the years of the purges. His son, Rem, was killed at the front. Klobukov cares for his mentally ill daughter, Ada. The girl sleeps almost all the time. She ignores strangers and communicates only with her pet turtle.

One day, Ada contracts pneumonia. The local doctor, Maria Kondratyevna Epifieva, a 72-year-old hunchback, arrives. Until 1914, she worked as Carl Jung’s assistant. Remaining in Russia, Epifieva secretly developed her own discipline. She calls it "egochemistry." She considers herself a "safecracker," able to crack the digital combination to the safe of the human psyche. Maria Kondratyevna develops a strict classification of personalities. She divides people into rationalists and emotionalists, seekers and explorers. The old woman uses these formulas to create happy marriages. She brings together opposites who complement each other perfectly.

Testing Souls

The old woman conducts a comprehensive test with Anton Markovich. She immerses him in a fictitious situation. A passenger plane crashes into the crater of the Siberian volcano Okoboga. A community of Old Believers is hiding there. In the fantasy, Klobukov breaks his leg. He meets a 100-year-old elder and promises to regularly treat the local residents. Based on his answers, Epifieva diagnoses the academician as a "rational seeker" with a focus on self-discovery. She understands that the scientist is in dire need of a caring partner and decides to find him a partner.

Directly across from Klobukov lives another patient of the safecracker, 27-year-old Yustina Belitsyna. She works as an editor of classical dictionaries. She adores Latin and translates Lucretius. Yustina calls herself a "monatomic molecule." She is extremely withdrawn. Recently, she kicked out Associate Professor Smyslovsky with icy contempt. A colleague tried to hit on her. Epifieva had tested Yustina earlier. The doctor suggested she imagine herself in Ancient Rome. There, the girl chose the fate of a Vestal Virgin. She preferred to tend the sacred fire in solitude rather than shine in society. The doctor understands: these two are made for each other. Their psychological profiles are a perfect match.

Maria Kondratyevna gets tickets to a closed Impressionist exhibition at the Pushkin Museum. She invites Anton and Yustina. The matchmaker feigns illness and doesn’t show up. The neighbors become acquainted. They feel a deep kinship. Claude Monet’s paintings evoke genuine admiration. Suddenly, Klobukov sees Renoir’s portrait of Jeanne Samary. The heroine’s cheerfulness reminds him of his dead wife. A suffocating sense of guilt forces the academician to flee the museum.

Avengers from the past

Meanwhile, a grim plot of retribution unfolds. Former army major Sanin arrives in Moscow. He was captured by the Germans and then sent to the Soviet filtration camp at Oppeln. There, guards knocked out his teeth and maimed his best friend. Sanin finds Klobukov and gives him Rem’s belongings. The young man died before the major’s eyes during the storming of Breslau. Sanin has teamed up with the embittered prisoner Schomberg, nicknamed "Samurai." He has compiled a list of 78 executioners. The Avengers are preparing to bring them to justice.

They obtained funds for operational expenses in Sverdlovsk. The men simply robbed a police car containing the payroll. Their first victim was the former escort chief, Shchup. He lives in Lobnya and works as a loader at the market. Sanin stuns the drunken escort with brass knuckles. Samurai methodically breaks Shchup’s spine with a crowbar. Then, to conceal his actions, Sanin kills a bandit in Sokolniki and takes over his room as a hideout.

Next on the list should be Lesnykh’s personnel officer. However, he’s never left home alone. Then Samurai suggests punishing former Chekist Philip Blyakhin. He’s an old acquaintance of Klobukov’s. Blyakhin is celebrating his retirement with a banquet at the Red Poppy café. Samurai is about to gouge Blyakhin’s eyes out with an awl. Sanin realizes something terrible. His partner is driven not by a thirst for justice, but by simple sadism. The former prisoners fight fiercely.

Sanin leaves. He intends to simply knock out Blyakhin’s teeth. But at the entrance, the major collides with Klobukov, who is leaving. After this, Sanin abandons his plan forever. Meanwhile, Maria Kondratyevna also encounters law enforcement. A young detective, Kochanov, comes to her disguised as a client. He announces the arrest of an old woman for illegal entrepreneurship. Epifieva immediately analyzes the policeman, discovering his natural acting talent. The old woman offers him a test with an airplane. The policeman gets carried away and forgets his duty.

Healing and Another Reality

Anton Markovich suffers from a long-standing sin. In 1937, he betrayed family friend Innokenty Ivanovich Bach. Klobukov unsuccessfully tried to save the arrested Mirra. Blyakhin breaks incredible news at a banquet: Bach has survived. Klobukov travels to Kolomna and leaves the old man a letter of bitter repentance. Later, he discovers the 78-year-old Bach sitting on the steps of his apartment. The old man joyfully embraces Anton.

It turns out that an investigator at Lubyanka had hit Innokenty Ivanovich hard. The concussion caused temporary paralysis. His body went numb, but his mind remained clear. This miracle saved Bach from execution. He wasn’t tried as the leader of a fictitious conspiracy. Bach was simply sent to a labor camp. There, he worked as a paramedic for 18 years. Bach calls those years very, very happy. He sincerely rejoiced at the opportunity to treat people. The old man forgives Klobukov. He claims that it was Anton’s prayers that protected him all that time.

Freed from the burden of his past, Klobukov meets Yustina in an endless line for tangerines. They engage in a passionate conversation about history. Anton Markovich invites her to the Kremlin, and then to the Bolshoi Theater to see the ballet "Giselle." During intermission, Klobukov confesses his deep affection for Yustina. He suggests they remain just friends. The scholar cites his age. Tina, with tears of joy, accepts. She recalls George Bernard Shaw’s "white marriage." The girl confesses her fear of physical intimacy.

They form a perfect, radiant union. That evening, the academic calls Maria Kondratyevna. He fervently thanks the old woman for the miracle he has achieved. The story ends with the unexpected revelation of Ada’s secret. Her consciousness dwells in an incredibly vibrant parallel world called Java. There, the sky is green and two multicolored suns. The girl is spoken to by her living brother, Rama, and the wise turtle, Chepandra. Rama works there as a pilot. Earthly reality seems to Ada like a gray dream, where they are going on a long business trip. She draws a crying face. The daughter hopes that her father will one day wake up and return home for good.