Synopsis As Alzheimer's insidiously corrodes Marina Buriakov's mind, she finds herself slipping out of the present and back to the days when as a young woman she lived with hundreds of other families in the basement of the Hermitage Museum during the siege of Leningrad. As the details of Marina's granddaughter's wedding fade, the famous paintings she once tried to protect from the Nazi bombs become increasingly vivid. Debra Dean's lyrical debut novel shimmers with fleeting and beautiful memories and powerfully portrays the emotional bonds forged by the Russian families living through the chaos of war.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-03-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 231 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 13.6 oz |
Publisher's Note In a novel that moves back and forth between the Soviet Union during World War II and modern-day America, Marina, an elderly Russian woman, recalls vivid images of her youth during the height of the siege of Leningrad when, as a tour guide at the Hermitage, she and other staff members removed the museum's priceless artworks for safekeeping. A first novel.
Industry Reviews "[M]emory, the hopes one pins on it and the letting go one must do around it all take on real poignancy, giving the story a satisfying fullness." (11/21/2005)
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