Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this novel centres on one family's efforts to survive the terrible privations which occurred during the German siege of Leningrad in WW II. Everyone I know who has read it, raves about it although I did have some reservations. It's harrowing stuff and yet maybe because it is so lyrical, there's a detachment about the writing almost as if there's a screen of glass between narrative and reader.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 14 July 2002 ) |
