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The
2003 Award
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The Siege by Helen Dunmore
Nominated by:
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Publisher of Nominated Edition: Viking ISBN 0670897183 |
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors. |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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| 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… |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Helen Dunmore is the author of seven novels, including A Spell of Winter, winner of the first Orange Prize in 1996, With Your Crooked Heart, Talking to the Dead and Your Blue-eyed Boy. She is also a poet, children's novelist and short story writer. The Siege was shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award. |
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Reader
Review
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This is one of those books which hooks you from page one and it is easy to understand how it came out at number one in the newBOOKSmag 2002 survey. It brings us to Leningrad in June 1941 and to the story of Anna, a 24 year old nursery school worker, her 7 year old brother, Kolya and her writer father, Mikhail. The short northern summer is overshadowed by the threat of the German invasion and as the season moves on preparations for the siege of the city begin. We are brought through the horrors and privations of that winter, without food, light and fuel. Furniture is burnt for warmth, wallpaper paste is eaten and leather purses boiled down for soup. This world is peopled by shadowy figures moving slowly in a landscape of snow, ice and ruined buildings, struggling for survival. The writer draws you into this world yet the book ends on a note of hope, the survivors determined to triumph over adversity even though the siege goes on for another couple of years. This is a wonderful read and must be a strong contender for the shortlist. Raheny Library Readers' Group Member |
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Find out more about the author on the following websites: |
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