The Madonnas of Leningrad - by Debra Dean (Paperback)

About the Book

In this sublime debut novel, set amid the horrors of the siege of Leningrad in World War II, a gifted writer explores the power of memory to save . . . and betray.

Book Synopsis

"An extraordinary debut, a deeply lovely novel that evokes with uncommon deftness the terrible, heartbreaking beauty that is life in wartime. Like the glorious ghosts of the paintings in the Hermitage that lie at the heart of the story, Dean's exquisite prose shimmers with a haunting glow, illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment. A superbly graceful novel." -- Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times Bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker

Bit by bit, 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, leaving the frames hanging empty on the walls to symbolize the artworks' eventual return. 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. . . .

From the Back Cover

Bit by bit, 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, leaving the frames hanging empty on the walls to symbolize the artworks' eventual return. 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. . . .

Review Quotes

"An unforgettable story of love, survival and the power of imagination in the most tragic circumstances. Elegant and poetic, the rare kind of book that you want to keep but you have to share." - Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of ZORRO
"Marina, using the technique of a fellow docent, memorizes favorite Hermitage works; these memories, beautifully interspersed, are especially vibrant. Dean, making her debut, weaves Marina's past and present together effortlessly. The dialogue around Marina's forgetfulness is extremely well done, and the Hermitage material has depth.... Memory, the hopes one pins on it and the letting go one must do around it all take on real poignancy, giving the story a satisfying fullness." - Publishers Weekly
"Gracefully shifting between the Soviet Union and the contemporary Pacific Northwest, first-time novelist Dean renders a poignant tale about the power of memory. Dean eloquently describes the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Raphael, but she is at her best illuminating aging Marina's precarious state of mind." - Booklist (starred review)
"Elegant and poetic, the rare kind of book that you want to keep but you have to share." - Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of ZORRO
The most-recommended book of 2006 - Salt Lake City Tribune
"Dean eloquently depicts the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and convincingly describes the inner world of the afflicted. Spare, elegant language, taut emotion, and the crystal-clear ring of truth secure for this debut work a spot on library shelves everywhere." - Library Journal
"An extraordinary debut. . . . Like the glorious ghosts of the paintings in the Hermitage that lie at the heart of the story, Dean's exquisite prose shimmers with a haunting glow, illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment. A superbly graceful novel." - Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times Bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker
"...this is a novel that dares to be beautiful - and fully succeeds." - Daily Mail (London)
"A thoughtful tragedy that morphs into a tear-jerker in the third act." - Kirkus Reviews
"[A] heartfelt debut...[that] switches deftly between the siege and the present...[it is] admirably humane in its determination to restore the dignity Alzheimer's strips away. What's more, it largely avoids the sentimentality that mars so much writing about the old and infirm." - New York Times Book Review
"[A] heartfelt debut." - New York Times Book Review
"[A] poetic novel... Like other novels that portray the inner workings of disorders into which we have little insight -- Motherless Brooklyn for Tourette syndrome or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime for autism -- The Madonnas of Leningrad gives a glimpse into the woozy Alzheimer's mind... [but] the most vivid depictions here are of the paintings themselves and Marina's past: That seems real, rather than ethereal. The reader almost gets lost with Marina in her memory palace made of paintings she cannot see, and as much as she paints the portraits for us, we cannot either." - San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Rare is the novel that creates that blissful forgot-you-were-reading experience. This sort of transcendence is rarer still when the novel in question is an author's debut, but that is precisely what Debra Dean has achieved with her image-rich book, The Madonnas of Leningrad." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"[A] remarkable first novel about the consolation of memory." - NPR Nancy Pearl Book Review
"Spare, elegant language [and] taut emotion...secure for this debut work a spot on library shelves everywhere." - Library Journal
"Dean merges past and present in prose that shines like the gilt frames in the hermitage.... this novel of memory and forgetting glows with love and hope." - BookPage
"Dean writes with passion and compelling drama about a grotesque chapter of World War II." - People
"Exquisitely crafted and deeply satisfying." - Oakland Tribune
"[A] poetic novel." - San Francisco Chronicle Book Review