![]() ![]() ![]() As they are looting, a military car rolls by and attempts to arrest the group for breaking curfew. Lev finds a sheath strapped to the pilot’s ankle, and takes it and the knife it contains. ![]() As they view the body, they begin to loot various items, a flask of liquor, a pistol, warm gloves, and a scarf. The pilot’s body drops into their street, and the teenagers rush down with morbid curiosity to take a look. One night, as he and his friends are waiting on the roof of their apartment building the Kirov, a dead German pilot glides in from the sky, held aloft by a parachute. Lev Beniov, a young man, is alone in the city, his mother and sister have been evacuated, but he has volunteered to remain, working for the state as a volunteer firefighter, as he is too young to fight on the front lines. German soldiers surround the Russian city, food is hard to come by, and hope is deteriorating rapidly. It is the midpoint of the brutal Siege of Leningrad, January of 1942. His grandmother, infamous for never cooking in the family, is less open about her origins. His grandfather had killed two Germans before he was 18. The novel begins with a brief prologue, detailing the origins of the story, supposedly coming from the author’s grandparents, specifically his grandfather, who told him the story of their time in the Soviet Union during World War II. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. ![]()
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