Marinka lives with her Baba in a house with chicken legs. Baba is a Yaga who helps guide the dead through the gate into the afterlife. Marinka is expected to become the next Yaga but she wants a normal life. She wants to stay in one place and make friends, maybe go to school. Right now her only friend is her pet jackdaw and she never knows when the house will decide to walk to the next destination. 

Things start to go wrong when Marinka keeps one of the dead as a friend. Then Baba has to guide the girl through the gate herself. Suddenly Marinka is on her own with a house that seems to be coming apart because the dead are not being guided. Marinka enlists the help of another Yaga and discovers some hard truths about herself. 

I have a strange fascination with Baba Yaga stories. Maybe because I wasn't exposed to them until I was an adult. I love the chicken house aspect of all the stories. I quite enjoyed the twist that Yagas guide the dead. I also loved Marinka's journey as she discovers who she is and how she can make a life as both a girl and a Yaga.