Pregnant and adrift in the countryside amid the devastation of the Russian Civil War, Marina returns to a decimated Petrograd, where her work caring for war orphans inspires her emergence as a poet. -- Marina Makarova finds herself -- pregnant and adrift amid the devastation of the Russian Civil War. She finds new strength and self-reliance to fortify her in her sojourn, and to prepare her for the hardships and dilemmas still to come. Returning to Petrograd, she finds the city almost unrecognizable after two years of revolution... and the streets teeming with homeless children, victims of war. Marina takes on the challenge of caring for these civil war orphans. Despite betrayal, privation and unimaginable loss, Marina at last emerges as the poet she was always meant to be. -- adapted from jacket