"Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born deformed, yet mentally keen with a frighteningly sharp wit, strong intellect, and a voracious appetite for books, Ivan is forced to interact with the world through the vivid prism of his mind ... That is until a new resident named Polina arrives at the hospital. At first, Ivan resents Polina: she steals his books, she challenges his routine, the nurses like her--she is exquisite. But soon, he cannot help being drawn to her, and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of"--