βAn unforgettable story of love, survival and the power of imagination in the most tragic circumstances. Elegant and poetic.β βIsabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of Zorro
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 memoriesβthe details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchildβyet 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. As the Luftwaffe's bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mindβa refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . .
βExtraordinary. . . . Deanβs exquisite prose shimmers . . . illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment.β βChang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker
βA poignant tale.β βBooklist, starred review
βDean writes with passion and compelling drama.β βPeople
βRare is the novel that creates that blissful forgot-you-were-reading experience . . . but that is precisely what Debra Dean has achieved with her image-rich book.β βSeattle Post-Intelligencer
βPoetic.β βSan Francisco Chronicle Book Review
β[A] heartfelt debut.β βNew York Times Book Review
βRemarkableββ NPR, Nancy Pearl Book Review