The Siege - Tapa dura

A Tolstoyan epic of love and war; life and death...she writes beautifully * Sunday Telegraph * Remarkable, affecting...there are few more interesting stories than this; and few writers who could have told it better * Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph * Utterly convincing. A deeply moving account of two love stories in terrible circumstances. The story of their struggle to survive appears simple, as all great literature should...A world-class novel * Antony Beevor, The Times * Literary writing of the highest order set against a background of suffering so intimately reconstructed it is hard to believe that Dunmore was not there * Sunday Telegraph * A remarkable parable of human survival against the odds * Mail on Sunday * In this wise, humane and beautifully written novel she has written a masterpiece * Independent * A searing historical novel. Dunmore vividly evokes the unbelievable cold, privations and violence as people struggle to survive...an extraordinary description of the horrors of the time * Sunday Express * An important as well as a thrilling work of art * Independent on Sunday * A moving and powerful novel in which Dunmore employs all her celebrated descriptive and narrative skills...beautiful * Daily Mail * A harrowing, urgent narrative of cold, starvation and the battle to survive * Sunday Times *

Leningrad, September 1941. German tanks surround the city, imprisoning those who live there. The besieged people of Leningrad face shells, starvation, and the Russian winter. Interweaving two love affairs in two generations, THE SIEGE draws us deep into the Levin's family struggle to stay alive during this terrible winter. What is it like to be so hungry you simmer your leather manicure case to make soup? So cold you burn first your furniture and then your books? THE SIEGE is a story about war and the wounds it inflicts on people's lives. It is also a lyrical and deeply moving celebration of love, life and survival.