For the first time in Russian - a debut novel, which became the winner of several prestigious awards (including the Costa Prize - the former Whitbread Prize). A novel that amazed readers on both sides of the Atlantic with the authenticity and depth of its descriptions of Canadian nature and bygone life, despite the fact that the author, an English screenwriter, never left Britain, suffering from agoraphobia. The novel has been translated into 23 languages and has become a bestseller in many countries around the world. The tiny town of Dove River, standing on the river of the same name (“Pigeon”), is shocked by the murder of the French hunter Laurent Jamet; At the same time, one of his few friends, seventeen-year-old Francis, disappears. A group of investigators from the nearest trading post of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, and then his mother, follow Francis's trail. Her love will be stronger than the deepening frosts, and human cruelty, and fear of the unknown.