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| Book: Paperback | 129 x 198mm | 304 pages | ISBN 9780141000732 | 30 May 2002 | Penguin |
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| Reviewed by A reader from Manchester, England |
| Sep 11, 2002 |
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"A harrowing, beautifully written account of the siege of Leningrad. The book is well researched and very interesting, but it is minutiae of life, literally staying alive, which Helen Dunmore describes so well. The book concentrates mainly on one family and how they cope during this ordeal - it shows the ingenuity of people pushed to the limit of endurance. It is a moving and humane book which has kindled my interest in this period of Russian history. I have long been a fan of Helen Dunmore's work - but in my opinion this novel is the best thing she has written - a brilliant return to the form of Burning Bright and A Spell of Winter. " |
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| Reviewed by A reader from London |
| Sep 11, 2002 |
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"The Siege is by far the best novel Helen Dunmore has written, and establishes her as an important writer. It uses her skill at describing women's domestic and emotional lives but widens it in placing her characters in the 1941 Siege of Leningrad. Anna, an aspiring artist has to look after her father (a writer who can't get published because his work isn't upbeat enough for the Party) and little brother. When we first see her she's digging up onions at the family dacha, and those she can't dig up she destroys - a foretaste of the scorched earth policy that made the Russians impossible to defeat. Pretty soon, as winters and the Nazis close in, all the pets are eaten and there are rumours of cannibalism. Anna's family survive, not just physically but morally although at a terrible price. One of the things that keeps them going is the memory of Russian literature, even when they have to burn their books to keep warm. Although Anna's father and her lover are insubstantial characters, the depiction of the women more than compensates. This is a marvellous, gripping novel about suffering and love, which fuses the world of women's fiction with that of Tolstoy. " |
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Irish Times Literature Prize
Man Booker Prize for Fiction
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Commonwealth Writers Prize
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