The setting once again for the seventh novel by Helen Dunmore is one of war. The siege refers to the siege of Leningrad during WW2 by the Germans. It draws us deep into the Levin's family struggle to stay alive. It is a story about war and the wounds it inflicts on people's lives. It is also a lyrical and deeply moving celebration of love, life and survival. Incredibly evocative descriptions of the desperate conditions of Lengingrad at the time invade every page and as is the hallmark of every Dunmore novel – incredibly well written.
Leningrad, September 1941. Hitler orders German forces to surround the city at the start of the most dangerous, desperate winter in its history. For two pairs of lovers - young Anna and Andrei, Anna's novelist father and actress Marina - the siege becomes a battle for survival. They will soon discover what it is like to be so hungry you boil shoe leather to make soup, so cold you burn furniture and books. But this is not just a struggle to exist, it is also a fight to keep the spark of hope alive...
The Siege is a brilliantly imagined novel of war and the wounds it inflicts on ordinary people's lives and a profoundly moving celebration of love, life and survival. This novel is the fruit of Helen Dunmore's long fascination with Russian history, its people and its culture, and marks a major breakthrough in her writing.
'Remarkable, affecting...There are few more interesting stories than this; and few writers who could have told it better' - Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph
'Utterly convincing. A deeply moving account of two love stories in terrible circumstances. The story of their struggle to survive appears simple, as all great literature should...A world-class novel' Antony Beevor, The Times
'A remarkable parable of human survival against the odds' - Katie Owen, Mail on Sunday
Author
About Helen Dunmore
Helen Dunmore was the author of fourteen novels. Her first, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led to D H Lawrence’s expulsion from Cornwall (on suspicion of spying) during the First World War. It won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize, now the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Siege, set during the Siege of Leningrad, was described by Antony Beevor as ‘a world-class novel’ and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize.
Helen Dunmore’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and she was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She died in June 2017.
