Just like Constantinople, even the grandest cities had their slums.
Carpenter's Alley, beside the Hay Market, possessed every characteristic of an urban slum. There were more than twenty taverns here, and even after nightfall, drunken patrons still wandered the streets.
Most of the residents were lowly workers, cooks, coppersmiths, and prostitutes.
A small number of "middle-class" people lived here as well. They were often homeowners who rented out spare rooms to tenants and worked as low-ranking officials, tailors, or skilled laborers.
Yet this was not some forgotten corner of the city, but the very center of Saint Petersburg.
When Peter the Great first founded the city, the Hay Market had already been an important center of commerce and trade.
That was why it had drawn all kinds of people: peddlers, bankrupt farmers, laborers, the middle class, and, after the war began, many young men dodging conscription and veterans returning from service.
Without seeing it in person, it was hard to imagine how those cramped, narrow little buildings could be packed with so many living people.
Anna had often visited the Hay Market before. The so-called black market was hidden here as well.
But she had never been to Carpenter's Alley. In her mother's words, it was a place only "improper people" went to. And for a young girl like her, Carpenter's Alley, always full of wandering drunks, was dangerous too.
It was already very late, yet Anna found that her hearing and sight had grown sharper than ever.
She could hear retired veterans coughing, boys pleading for another piece of bread, and even sense the malicious gazes watching her from the darkness.
Some rooms were utterly silent. Even through a wall, Anna seemed able to see the bodies of two people who had frozen to death lying inside, along with