With its shimmering palaces and decaying mansions, enchanted forests and basements full of Soviet art, the history of St. Petersburg comes alive in this memoir of one art devotee's journey to reveal the strength and wonder behind Russia's crumbling facades. These writings reflect the author's experiences in the artistic landscapes she inhabits, from the eerie beauty of Dostoevski's streets on a white night to stories of struggling artists and dignified intellectuals eking out existences in claustrophobic studio apartments. A compelling immersion into the Russia of today, this travel narrative shows St. Petersberg to be a city of ghosts and illusions where past and present and reality and fiction are inextricably fused.