One day, as I was walking into Herry’s (a local sandwich shop), I ran into Randi Beauchamp. Being a fellow avid reader, she had to inform me of a book that “I had to read.”
The next time I was in Books a Million, I looked up the title, and bought it. Never would I have guessed that this would soon become my favorite book of all time.
To segue into this post, I should say this…No time in history do I find more fascinating than the WWII era. In both World and American History classes growing up, this was by far my favorite section.
The Bronze Horseman is set in Leningrad, Russia (now St. Petersburg) during WWII. The novel begins as Tatiana’s family learns of Germany’s invasion of Russia. While the book is a love story, it tells a part of history that I had never learned or even thought of. I always considered Russia to be part of the Axis Powers, with very little thought of how it was for the Russians when Hitler turned his sights on them.
The story tells of the destruction and loss and starvation that ravaged Leningrad during WWII. The Seige of Leningrad lasted for 872 days. It involved bombing, cutting off supplies and food, and the German and Finnish armies encircling the city. It caused astronomical casualties to civilians. Although fiction, the book does an amazing job of giving you a glimpse at what a Leningrad citizen might have faced.
The book is heartbreaking and heart-wrenching, but is well worth the read. And though it is sad at times, the book is heartwarming and hopeful and filled with strength. You will want to put it down a million times, but you just can’t do it. This is a book, that even after a few years, it still haunts me. I am still in awe at the work that Paullina Simons put into this novel.
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