The Siege: A Novel

Helen Dunmore's marvelous novel (surely her best*) begins with Spring in 1941: "And then, just when it seemed as if summer would forget about Leningrad this year, everything changed. Ice broke loose from the compacted mass around the Strelka. Seagulls preened on the floes as the current swept them under bridges, and down the widening Neva to the sea." It will end with Spring a year later, but by that time a large part of the Leningrad population will have died of cold or malnutrition, as the German armies hold the city in a relentless siege.Dunmore begins gently, almost lyrically, in a small dacha outside the city. Not that everyday life is easy. Her protagonist, 23-year-old Anna Mikhailova Levin, has had to abandon her studies as an artist to look after her baby brother Kolya, when her mother died in childbirth five years before. Her father, a writer, has been blacklisted by the Soviet Writers' Union, so Anna must work in a daycare nursery to support them, suffering under a boss whose strict adherence to socialist doctrines does not disguise her dislike of children. It is a period when nobody dare speak openly, for fear of denunciation and arrest. But Russia still has a pact with Germany and war seems far off.By the end of summer, all has changed. Germany invades Russia, and Leningrad is marked for destruction. The city's food warehouses are firebombed, its supply lines are cut, and strict food rationing is imposed. The citizens are mobilized to dig ditches, build defenses, work in factories, but slowly everything grinds to a halt; everyone now has one business only, survival. Anna holes up in a tiny apartment with Kolya, her father, and two others from outside the family: one is Marina Petrovna, a blacklisted actress and her father's old friend; the other, Andrei, is a young medical student, and Anna's first love. For love blooms against all odds; there may be little romance in two fully-dressed unwashed emaciated bodies huddling together for warmth, but there is something deeper: responsibility and caring. And the political climate changes also: "Words are regaining their meanings, after years of masquerade. Hunger means hunger, terror means terror, enemy means enemy. It is not like trying to read mirror writing any more. Everything gets clearer day by day, as siege and winter eat into their lives. The coils of Soviet life are losing their strength. There's only the present left, and it has burned away both past and future."Dunmore's ability to paint simultaneously a vast canvas and an intimate portrait has naturally been compared to Tolstoy. But as the situation worsens and many succumb to the inevitable while others find an impossible will to survive, I thought more of John Steinbeck's  GRAPES OF WRATH . Dunmore does not quite reach his spiritual transcendence, but she has the same deep belief in the human spirit. Spring does come, and the authorities find ways to get some food in and inhabitants out. The siege will continue for eighteen more months, but its grip has been loosened. The survivors have rediscovered their humanity.*The others I have read and reviewed, in my personal order of preference, are:  ZENNOR IN DARKNESS , A SPELL OF WINTER , and  TALKING TO THE DEAD .

Having been to St Petersburg (while it was still Stalingrad) and having heard first hand some of stories of the defense of the city, I had to read this when I came across it. The circumstances are in line with what I heard and the characters give life to the story. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I had to immediately read Dunmore's "The Betrayal" which is excellent as well.

I finished reading this book a few days ago, but the images conjured up in my head about the characters in this book won't go away. As one of the other reviewers stated, I thorough enjoyed this book, but had to put it down several times as the emotions it evoked were sometimes too difficult. I've read many historical novels about World War II and what happened in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), but this novel, by far, will long standout in my memory. Great writing by Helen Dunmore.....I'll be searching for more of her books.

The courage and strength of the Russian people has always amazed me. Against terrible odds they remain hopeful. This is an amazing story - well written and well researched. Dunmore is one of my favorite authors. She draws her characters well and soon you must know what happens to them and you can't put the book down.

This is a fine work of historical fiction. The characterizations are alive; these could be living people, and their story is a heartbreaking one. The only complaint I have with the novel is the fact that it jumps from late December 1941, directly to May 1942 -- Uh, how did Anna, Andrei and Kolya survive during the other three & one-half months of winter? It was too abrupt a break in the flow of the work. Also, I personally thought the weakest part of the book was all that concerned Anna's romance with Andrei. I didn't feel the chemistry of the romance; I actually wanted more and more about how the family survived during the siege.Still, everything else about the book is SO powerful, (the characters of Anna's dead mother; her father and Maria Petrovna his mistress, in particular) I gladly give it four stars and recommend it highly.

I read a great deal. Most books I try are not worth spending time with, and I stop reading them. Some are good enough to finish. A few are a very worthwhile and fulfilling way to spend time. The Siege is one of those. This is a story about very real, more or less ordinary, people coping with a nearly impossible situation. The characters are interesting, the writing is terrific and keeps you absorbed, the situation really happened and is presented authentically. I maintain a list of these few gems on my website, and The Siege is on that list. By the way, I purchased it as a gift for someone who also likes to read.

An excellent depiction of human survival under extreme conditions. The main character, Anna, is a true heroine. Beautifully written to capture the mood and despair of the time but leaving the reader hopeful.

describes the stresses on families during WWII Siege of Leningrad,very well told

Both The Siege and its sequel The Betrayal can stand alone but if you're intending to read both, it's probably better to read them in the correct order. Having read The Betrayal first I knew who would survive and who would perish, but for me this didn't spoil The Siege.The story centres round Anna, a nursery teacher in her early twenties. She has looked after her young brother Kolya since their mother died in childbirth and shares an apartment in Leningrad with their father, a writer whose offerings are out of favour with the authorities. Andrei is a young doctor, trying to help the wounded as the German army advances. Among those he helps is Anna's father.The setting is Leningrad in 1941, and when the German army surrounds the city, effectively isolating it from the rest of the country and cutting off all supplies, Anna carries on her bicycle what produce she can from the family dacha and the struggle for survival begins. The Russian winter is long and harsh, and Helen Dunmore excels at creating a sense of winter. This is even more apparent in The Siege than it was in A Spell of Winter, the first book I read by this author.You can feel the cold and hunger as the nights lengthen and the snow deepens. As I tucked into my bowl of porridge this morning, I tried to imagine how anyone could survive on just two slices of bread a day, all that the rations allowed. Imagine struggling through the snow in temperatures of -20 degrees to queue for bread, your ration book securely hidden so no one steals it, without even knowing whether there will be any bread today.I had put off reading this book as I feared it would be gloomy and depressing but, despite the hardship and the millions dying of starvation and cold, it ends with a ray of hope in the brief Leningrad summer. I'm so pleased I read it, and would thoroughly recommend it.

Book was for my wife and arrived promptly and in good condition (very good value too). Although a title that she would not necessarily have chosen herself - it is a book club book - she is really enjoying it and can hardly put it down. ('Enjoying' in the sense of a good read rather than particularly enjoyable subject matter.)

I was recommended this book when I reviewed the book "City of Thieves", by David Benioff, which is also about the Leningrad Siege, but the difference between the two books is that one is narrated by a man and in this one the main character is a woman. The different perspectives on the same harsh winter where possibly a million people starved to death are quite striking if you read the two novels one after the other, as I did. It would be hard to say which I preferred. This novel tells the story from Anna's point of view. She struggles to survive the winter in St Petersburg, living in a small apartment where ice forms inside the windows and on hot drinks. The small family end up burning books and stewing a leather manicure case to survive. Dunmore captures the period perfectly and for days afterwards I found myself contemplating the contents of my food cupboards, wondering how long I could eke them out and feed my family in a siege situation. An excellent read.

Brilliant book. Brilliant read. Have been been recommending to all and sundry. Huge success all round at my book group, a book that educates, illuminates and enthralls. Read it.

I thought The Siege was a wonderful portrayal of the gradual diminution of the physical human being whilst the mental strength was retained. It reminded me of accounts I have heard from friends who suffered as prisoners of war in ww2 Japanese camps reducing from physically fit young men to 5 stone skin and bone yet lived to ripe old ages to tell the tale. I felt the cold so much in The Siege I had to turn the heating up in the house. Amazing.