Story Overview
Polina doesn’t move to the city because she has everything figured out. Quite the opposite. Coming from a poor family, she arrives in modern Russia with one clear goal: study economics and find a way out of poverty. University is supposed to be her path toward a better life, but the city she enters is shaped by money, inequality, corruption, and people who are far more complicated than they first appear.
The pressure starts to build quickly. Tuition, living expenses, social expectations, university politics, and the temptation of opportunities that come with their own price all become part of Polina’s everyday life. The more she tries to improve her situation, the more she is forced to question what she is willing to do—and where she draws the line.
What makes Glass Half Broken different is that Polina isn’t starting from a completely innocent or sheltered place. She already carries her own baggage, and the story is interested in how her experiences change her rather than simply pushing her from one event to the next. Relationships are messy, choices have consequences, and survival can sometimes demand compromises that look very different in hindsight.
