This is a novel of war and remembrance. At 82 Marina is suffering from the onset of Alzheimers Disease and is preparing for her granddaughter's wedding. Her story is revealed through stream of consciousness which is inronic given her diagnosis that slowly strips the consciousness of the present, yet magnifies the past. Recollections materialize recounting her participation during the seige of Leningrad in 1941 by the German army as she is forced into hiding in the basement of the Hermitage Museum where she was previously a tour guide.
The story unfolds between the present and the past as we learn how the power of love and survival empowers and sustains her despite hunger, fear and deprivation in the winter of 1941. The transformative powers of the imagination are magnificently exhibited by Marina in her elucidations of the art objects even though they have been removed from the Hermitage for safe keeping.
The grace and elegance of her story does not mitigate the tortuous circumstances of her existence during the siege; rather, she is enobled by them and emerges heroic.
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