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A Novel
Viking Adult
May 2008
On Sale: May 15, 2008
272 pages ISBN: 0670018708 EAN: 9780670018703 Hardcover
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Fiction
A writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to
document their experience during the infamous siege of
Leningrad. His grandmother won’t talk about it, but his
grandfather reluctantly consents. The result is the
captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive
against desperate odds. Lev Beniov considers himself “built for deprivation.” He’s
small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for
the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer
firefighter with friends from his building. When a dead
German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught
looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life.
He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya,
a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges.
Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev
and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by
complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs
for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding
cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering
unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt to
find the impossible. A search that takes them through the
dire lawlessness of Leningrad and the devastated surrounding
countryside creates an unlikely bond between this earnest,
lust-filled teenager and an endearing lothario with the
gifts of a conman. Set within the monumental events of
history, City of Thieves is an intimate coming-of-age tale
with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
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