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Leningrad
- Author
- Anna Reid
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 28 May 2026
- Run Time
- 14 hours 20 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, he intended to capture Leningrad before turning on Moscow. Soviet resistance forced him to change tactics: with his forward troops only thirty kilometres from the city's historic centre, he decided instead to starve it out. Using newly available diaries and government records, Anna Reid describes a city's descent into hell - the breakdown of electricity and water supply; subzero temperatures; the consumption of pets, joiner's glue and face cream; the dead left unburied where they fell - but also the extraordinary endurance, bravery and self-sacrifice, despite the cruelty and indifference of the Kremlin.
Critics Review
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A masterpiece of modern historical writing. With a clear, unsentimental eye and in calm prose, she describes the horrors of the most lethal siege in modern history ... A terrible story, superbly researched and beautifully told
Anthony Beevor, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
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Magisterial
Orlando Figes, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
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An admirable retelling of the extraordinary story of the 1941-44 siege ... The author has assembled the testimony of many unfamiliar witnesses, and vividly portrays what some of us consider the most dreadful saga of the Second World War
Max Hastings, The Times Books of the Year
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Impeccably researched, well-paced and beautifully written, Leningrad marks a new benchmark in the study of the subject and a more nuanced, objective interpretation for a new century
Financial Times
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A moving and breathtaking examination of the terrible price extorted by unfettered political power on both sides
Daily Mail
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Anna Reid
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Duration
- 14 hours 20 minutes
- Release Date
- 28 May 2026
- ISBN
- 9781037207075
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Second World War, Modern warfare, Battles / military campaigns, European history
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Leningrad by Anna Reid, read by Kristin AthertonWhen Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, he intended to capture Leningrad before turning on Moscow. Soviet resistance forced him to change tactics: with his forward troops only thirty kilometres from the city's historic centre, he decided instead to starve it out. Using newly available diaries and government records, Anna Reid describes a city's descent into hell - the breakdown of electricity and water supply; subzero temperatures; the consumption of pets, joiner's glue and face cream; the dead left unburied where they fell - but also the extraordinary endurance, bravery and self-sacrifice, despite the cruelty and indifference of the Kremlin.
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