When German journalist Jens Muhling met Juri, a Russian television producer selling stories about his homeland, he was mesmerized by what he heard: the real Russia and Ukraine were more unbelievable than anything he could have invented. The encounter changed Muhling's life, triggering a number of journeys to Ukraine and deep into the Russian heartland on a quest for stories of ordinary and extraordinary people. Away from the bright lights of Moscow, Muhling met and befriended a Dostoevskian cast of characters, including a hermit from Tayga who had only recently discovered the existence of a...