‘It is impossible to exaggerate the power of this short, unbearably poignant novel.’ Mail on Sunday
‘A bold and elegant novel’ Helen Dunmore, Guardian
‘A haunting story, beautifully told’ Viv Groskop, Observer
An extraordinary story of love and endurance during the Siege of Leningrad lies at the heart of a magnificent novel about Russia past and present, and the human condition.
One night in St Petersburg, two men meet, both adrift in the brash new Russia: Shutov, a writer visiting after years of exile in Paris, and Volsky, an elderly survivor of the Siege of Leningrad and Stalin’s purges. His life story – one of extreme suffering, courage and an extraordinary love – he considers unremarkable. To Shutov it is a revelation, the tale of an unsung hero that puts everything into perspective and suggests where true happiness lies.
‘A bold and elegant novel’ Helen Dunmore, Guardian
‘A haunting story, beautifully told’ Viv Groskop, Observer
An extraordinary story of love and endurance during the Siege of Leningrad lies at the heart of a magnificent novel about Russia past and present, and the human condition.
One night in St Petersburg, two men meet, both adrift in the brash new Russia: Shutov, a writer visiting after years of exile in Paris, and Volsky, an elderly survivor of the Siege of Leningrad and Stalin’s purges. His life story – one of extreme suffering, courage and an extraordinary love – he considers unremarkable. To Shutov it is a revelation, the tale of an unsung hero that puts everything into perspective and suggests where true happiness lies.
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Reviews
Makine's laconic, sardonic portrait of the new Russia is laced with fury...a bold and eloquent novel
Makine is a consummate literary artist, but he is teacher as well as storyteller and, best of all, enchanter
Thrilling...Makine's most beautiful novel since Le Testament Français
Makine's laconic, sardonic portrait of the new Russia is laced with fury . . . a bold and eloquent novel.
Makine is a consummate literary artist, but he is teacher as well as storyteller and, best of all, enchanter.
It is impossible to exaggerate the power of this short, unbearably poignant novel. It is both brutal and lyrical. Makine consciously invokes Chekhov but his grasp of history is positively Tolstoy-like in scale. I can't think of a writer who would be a more deserving recipient of the Nobel literature prize.
Like all his work, this novel has a wonderful flavour of a contemporary Checkhov with a splash of Proust...What starts out an intimate account bursts out into something more ambitious and universal. Ultimately it's a haunting story, beautifully told.