White Ash

This noir detective story with a sophisticated psychological element from the contemporary Ukrainian writer Illarion Pavlyuk takes us to a time when light came only from candles and oil lamps, to a country estate with the evocative name White Ash. Overnight, it covers the entire remote homestead and, according to locals, is supposedly connected to a nearby entrance to hell.

Detective Taras Bily is asked by the estate's owner to investigate his daughter's murder. It seems the killer can be easily identified, but as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that many things don't add up, the villagers are behaving suspiciously, and everyone is bound by fear of a mythical demon, against whom they paint mysterious white circles. Folklore motifs and elements of magical realism blend perfectly with the detective plot and unexpected twists. The mysterious figure of the detective, who cannot remember half of his life, raises the question of the line between good and evil in this environment filled with rituals and occultism—a line that seems to have shifted in White Ash for certain reasons...