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The Betrayal

The Betrayal

Author(s): Helen Dunmore

Location(s): St Petersburg (Leningrad)

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): 1950s

Location

Content

Leningrad, 1952. Andrei, a young hospital doctor, and Anna, a nursery school teacher, are forging a life together in the postwar, postsiege wreckage. But their happiness is precarious, like that of millions of Russians who must avoid the claws of Stalin’s merciless Ministry of State Security. So when Andrei is asked to treat the seriously ill child of a senior secret police officer, he and Anna are fearful. Trapped in an impossible, maybe unwinnable game, can they avoid the whispers and watchful eyes of those who will say or do anything to save themselves?

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Enthralling. Emotionally gripping . . . ordinary people struggling against a city’s beautiful indifference, and clinging on for dear life (Daily Telegraph )

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