Vladimir Torin’s "Birds," a summary Automatic translate

This atmospheric novel was published in 2023. The plot unfolds in a snowy city and centers on eleven-year-old Finch, who is trying to find his missing grandfather. The text is generously spiced with steampunk — a genre of science fiction where machines run on steam power. The characters use automatons and travel on steam-powered trams and airships.

This book is the first installment in a standalone story within the author’s extensive universe, "Mysterious Tales from Gaben." This book series also includes the popular novels "Mr. Eternal Eve" and "My Post-Imago."

Oddities surrounding Finch

Eleven-year-old Finch lives with his grandfather, Cornelius Fergin, at 17 Troome Street, in the poor district of Gorrie. The boy is distinguished by his blue hair and extreme absent-mindedness. One day, while serving detention after school, he sees a man with an umbrella through the school window. The stranger sits down on a bench and crumbles into snow, turning into black crows. On the way home, Finch spots another frightening creature — a pale, naked, fat man with a long nose and black eyes. On the tram, a suspicious con man named Mr. Cattley sits next to him and convinces the boy that all adults are lying and that his grandfather is hiding the truth from him.

Returning to the apartment, Finch discovers his grandfather is missing. The bedroom window is open, revealing a bootprint on the snow-covered eaves. The locked, heavy wardrobe, which his grandfather had strictly forbidden anyone to look into, is open and empty. His old military uniform is gone. The boy attempts to discover his guardian’s fate on his own. He questions the neighbors and goes down to the courtyard to Mr. Hamm, an old, shell-shocked navigator living in the abandoned airship Jenny. Hamm tells him of a mysterious Man in Black who threatened Cornelius shortly before his disappearance. The stranger in a top hat uttered a frightening name: "Gellenkopf." It soon emerges that the Man in Black had promised an imminent snowstorm.

Finch enlists the help of his classmate and neighbor, Arabella Jay. The girl suffers from the cruelty of Mr. Sergius Dray, who poses as her uncle, lives in their apartment on money from Arabella’s late father, and forces her mother to take sleeping pills. The children agree to help each other: Finch will rid the girl of Dray, and Arabella will help find her grandfather. Arabella has a brilliant analytical mind and always draws on the detective methods she’s read. Together, they begin collecting clues and keeping a diary of their investigation.

Walking vertically

Madame Clara, the stern nanny on the seventh floor, unexpectedly takes Finch for a late-night stroll. She forces the boy to walk up the vertical brick wall of the building. They board an overhead tram, whose passengers are eerie creatures with long noses and black eyes. Madame Clara calls them not-birds. They arrive at Heartbreak Boulevard, where the nanny warns two not-bird lovers, Mr. Curran and Miss Colln, of impending danger. A cruel hunter named Carrie is hot on their trail. The lovers give Finch a scalding-hot black feather. On the way back, the boy realizes that Madame Clara is taking away his memories of the not-birds.

In the morning, Finch finds a huge sum of money in his grandfather’s coat, a receipt for durable lenses, wrappings from gun springs, and strange pills. The boy goes to the industrial district of Kraekk and the wealthy Rrivv to follow up on these leads. He realizes that Cornelius had been thoroughly preparing for a dangerous operation before the approaching snowstorm. The tailor’s owner reveals that Fergin needed the lenses to observe the storm up close. The boy barely escapes the aggressive manufacturer, who suspects him of stealing designs for a silent weapon.

Meanwhile, at No. 17, Conrad Francki, a former spy and Grandpa Finch’s best friend, is found hanged. The old man had previously hinted to Finch that someone had mysteriously disappeared from every apartment in their building. The children find a gramophone record on which Cornelius asks his grandson not to look for him. Arabella, using steam, opens a letter addressed to Uncle Sergius. The message contains instructions to meet at the Mockingbird Cabaret and is signed "Birdcatcher." Now Finch has no doubt that his guardian has been kidnapped by members of a sinister conspiracy.

Secrets of the Cabaret and the Walsh Mansion

Finch and Arabella craft a man’s costume. Arabella perches on Finch’s shoulders, and under the guise of "Mr. Jobius," they infiltrate a sleazy establishment. The children overhear a conversation between Sergius Dray and the Man in Black, the Bird Catcher. He demands they steal something valuable from Madame Clara. Unmasked, Finch and Arabella are nearly beaten by the enormous bouncer, Borgalo. They are rescued by the singer Fanny Rosenthodd, who then takes the children to the Walsh family estate, Wellesby. The Walsh family oversees snow removal in the city and is renowned for its wealth. They live in a luxurious palace.

At the mansion, the children spot Madame Clara and sneak into the guest wing. There, they get into a fight with the young Walsh children, defending Willaghby, the patriarch’s unloved granddaughter. Gerhart Walsh takes Finch and Arabella hostage, threatening to throw them out into a storm to force Fanny to seduce his rival older brother. Butler Aisgrove locks the children in a hot boiler room. The children realize that the inhabitants of this house are cruel and merciless, and the lavish ball is merely a cover for their machinations.

Finch and Arabella escape through a brick chimney and stumble upon the secret Vogeltromm School of Not-Birds. A small not-bird, Cora, tells them the legend of Gellenkopf. He was once a respected professor, but he wanted to wage war on humans. Gellenkopf was stopped by Coppelius Throgmorton and Madame Clara, who took his Black Heart. Since then, he has thirsted for revenge and dreams of regaining his former magical powers. Professor Kneppin catches them right in the school hallway and takes them to the headmistress, Madame Worte, for punishment.

Hidden enemies and new allies

The children return to No. 17, where chaos erupts due to the dead gremlin they planted. It turns out that their neighbor, Mrs. Chattney, is the famous newspaper reporter Few Farthing. She was investigating the disappearances of non-birds and residents of the building, trying to find her missing son, Jacob. It turns out Jacob has become a non-bird named Rivvin. Mrs. Chattney recounts how she followed the hunters of non-birds, skinning them for white fur coats. These revelations force Finch to rethink the entire chain of events and the behavior of his neighbors.

The house’s true villain is the false prophet One-Eye, or Goran Corvius. He manipulates everyone to destroy Madame Clara. One-Eye attacks Finch in an illusionary world of woven threads. Rivvin saves the boy, transforming into a giant dog-bird. In a brutal fight, Rivvin kills One-Eye but suffers grievous wounds himself. Dr. Noct performs emergency surgery right in Finch’s apartment, saving the lives of Rivvin and Clara. The heroes realize that One-Eye has been plotting for years, pulling the strings of prophecies from the not-birds.

Finch finally realizes the horrifying truth: his kind grandfather, Cornelius Fergin, is the Birdman. Eleven years ago, Nanny Clara erased Cornelius’s memory and gave him the orphan Finch to raise, concealing the cruel Birdman from his trade. The Birdman, along with his companion, Horace Gorr, the aforementioned Tailor, mercilessly slaughtered non-birds. Now Cornelius has regained his memory and resumed hunting. This is the hardest blow for Finch — the man he loved has been revealed as a heartless killer.

Events reach a climax during a snowstorm. The Birdman and Horace Gorr commandeer a gigantic storm-dwelling craft. The six-legged walking machine slowly makes its way through the storm. The villains intend to light the beacon and start a new war. The novel concludes with the arrival of an elegant air carriage made of bone. The true creator of No. 17, the eight-eyed non-bird Coppelius Throgmorton, also known as the Sandman, returns to the snow-covered town. He intends to stop the Birdman and restore peace to his gloomy mansion.