Few novels published this year start with a plot premise as curious, risky, and fun as The Last Trace, by Maria Reva (Kherson, 1989), which Periscopi is now publishing in Catalan, translated by Míriam Cano. It begins as the story of biologist Ieva's obsession with breeding endangered snails. It continues with the day-to-day life of Romeo Meets Yulia, the mail-order bride company where Ieva works to fund her research into gastropod mollusks. Through two sisters the protagonist comes into contact with, Nastia and Solomia, she agrees to kidnap a group of single men to denounce the misogyny of the business and, in the process, discover who is behind the mysterious disappearance of her mother. In the midst of the adventure, moreover, the novel implodes and transforms into a completely different book.