SHORTLISTED for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for FictionA riveting story of erotic obsession, self-deception and moral free-fall, set in post-communist Moscow.Nick Platt is a lawyer working in Moscow in the early 2000s--a city of hedonism and desperation, magical hideaways and debauched nightclubs, kindness and corruption. Nick doesn't ask too many questions about the shady deals he works on: he's too busy enjoying the exotic, sinful nightlife. On a sultry day in September, Nick rescues two willowy sisters, Masha and Katya, from a would-be purse snatcher, and soon the three of them are cruising Moscow's seamy glamour spots. As winter descends on the decadent city, Nick falls for the seductive Masha, but soon finds he is falling away from himself--and at the centre of a tale of deception and betrayal, in a place where dark secrets, and long hidden corpses, come to light when the deep snows finally thaw.