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“An unforgettable story of love, survival and the power of imagination in the most tragic circumstances. Elegant and poetic.” —Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of Zorro
The ravages of age are eroding Marina’s grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children’s lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind’s eye.
Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army’s approach signaled the beginning of what would be a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation, bitter cold, and a relentless German onslaught, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum’s priceless masterpieces for safekeeping. As the Luftwaffe’s bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mind—a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . .
“Extraordinary. . . . Dean’s exquisite prose shimmers . . . illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment.” —Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker
“A poignant tale.” —Booklist, starred review
“Dean writes with passion and compelling drama.” —People
“Rare is the novel that creates that blissful forgot-you-were-reading experience . . . but that is precisely what Debra Dean has achieved with her image-rich book.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Poetic.” —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
“[A] heartfelt debut.” —New York Times Book Review
“Remarkable”— NPR, Nancy Pearl Book Review
ASIN : B000FCKRKQ
Publisher : HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
Publication date : October 13, 2009
Language : English
File size : 3.0 MB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 256 pages
Customers say
Customers praise the book for its poignant story and vivid descriptions of art works. They find the writing style captivating and the information about the era insightful. The characters are described as vibrant and memorable, with an extrapolated sympathetic portrayal. The book explores Alzheimer’s and dementia with a sincere account of the conflicting aspects of the condition.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
