The madonnas of Leningrad
By: Debra Dean
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2008
Place of publication: HarperCollinsPublichers
Language: eng
Number of pages: 231
ISBN-13: 9780739474679
Subjects: Gorsudarstvennyi Ermitazh (Russia); Fiction; Art treasures in war; Memory; History
Description: Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on everyday life. And while this elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories, her distant past is preserved in vivid snapshots of her youth in war-torn Leningrad. In the autumn of 1941, Marina, then a guide at the Hermitage Museum, helped to take down the museum's masterpieces for safekeeping. To hold on to sanity as the Luftwaffe's bombs fell on the city, the young woman committed to memory these exquisite artworks of angels and serene madonnas. She used them to create a refuge to which she retreated to escape the world around her; a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more.
Notes: Adult.