A tale of an unlikely friendship bent on a seemingly impossible task performed to gain their freedom. We are in the Siege of Leningrad, the city is starving and our two heroes must find a dozen eggs so the NKUD colonel can have a cake for his daughter’s wedding. The whole thing smacks of disaster right from the start. Tender, violent, tense and laced with humour, our two delightful renegades blunder their way through one adventure after another. A lovely book, highly recommended.
Four months into the siege of Leningrad, the city is starving. Seventeen-year-old Lev fears for his life when he is arrested for looting the body of a dead German paratrooper, while his charismatic cellmate, Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested for desertion, seems bizarrely unafraid. Dawn brings, instead of an execution squad, an impossible challenge. Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs for an NKVD colonel to use for his daughter's wedding cake, and live. Or fail, and die. In the depths of the coldest winter in history, through a city cut off from all supplies and suffering appalling deprivation, man and boy embark on an absurd hunt. Their search will take them through desolate, lawless Leningrad and the devastated countryside surrounding it, in the captivating journey of two men trying to survive against desperate odds.
'This gut-churning thriller will sweep you along and, with any luck, propel Benioff into bestseller land' Kirkus - starred review
'Expert tone. . . fine sense of pace." Financial Times
'Told with compelling power' Sunday Telegraph
Author
About David Benioff
David Benioff was born and raised in New York City. An author and screenwriter, he adapted his first novel, The 25th Hour, into the screenplay for Spike Lee's popular feature film of the same name.
His short story collection When the Nines Rolled Over received critical acclaim. Stories from the collection have appeared in Best New American Voices and The Best Nonrequired American Reading.
He is also the author of the screenplays for the films Troy, Stay, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Kite Runner.
City of Thieves is his second novel.
David Benioff lives in Los Angeles and New York City.
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