The Siege by Helen Dunmore

The Siege is set in Leningrad.  The story begins in the spring of 1941 with twenty three year-old Anna who is reminiscing about her childhood as she plants vegetables for the winter at the family’s Dacha (country home).  Anna’s mother died giving birth to her younger brother, Koyla and now Anna is responsible for five year-old Koyla and her father, a dissident writer.  As spring turns to summer German forces invade and the family retreat to the City.  The people of Leningrad fight back, but their desperate attempts are overthrown by the might of the German army and soon German forces surround Leningrad and major supply routes are cut.  Winter arrives.  The story follows Anna and her loved ones as they struggle to survive as food and fuel run out.  I found the descriptions of the peoples’ battle to survive extremely moving.  The narrative point of view jumps around a bit too much for me.  The reader gets to hear a lot of characters’ voices, but I felt I didn’t really get to know any of them and I would have preferred to stay with Anna’s point of view.   It is a piece of history I knew little about and I found it an interesting and poignant read.