<p> When Nina Revskaya, former star of the Bolshoi Ballet, decides to auction her remarkable jewelry, she hopes to draw a curtain on her past. Instead, she is overwhelmed by memories of glorious and heartbreaking events that changed her life's course half a century before. </p> <p> In Russia, she discovered the theater, fell in love with a famed poet, and became?with her closest friends?a victim of Stalinist aggression. A terrible discovery led to a deadly act of betrayal?and to Nina's escape to Boston. Now, an associate at the Boston auction house and a Russian professor are unraveling a mystery surrounding a love letter, a poem, and a necklace of unknown provenance, stirring up revelations that will have life-altering consequences for all. </p>