Skip to content

The Siege
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege Paperback - 2002

by Helen Dunmore

Called "elegantly, starkly beautiful" by "The New York Times Book Review, The Siege" is Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental--the Nazi's 1941 winter siege on Leningrad that killed 600,000--but her focus is heartrendingly intimate.


Summary

Leningrad, September 1941. German tanks surround the city, imprisoning those who live there. The besieged people of Leningrad face shells, starvation, and the Russian winter. Interweaving two love affairs in two generations, THE SIEGE draws us deep into the Levin's family struggle to stay alive during this terrible winter. It is a story about war and the wounds it inflicts on people's lives. It is also a lyrical and deeply moving celebration of love, life and survival.

From the publisher

Called "elegantly, starkly beautiful" by The New York Times Book Review, The Siege is Helen Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental -- the Nazis' 1941 winter siege on Leningrad that killed six hundred thousand -- but her focus is heartrendingly intimate. One family, the Levins, fights to stay alive in their small apartment, held together by the unlikely courage and resourcefulness of twenty-two-year-old Anna. Though she dreams of an artist's life, she must instead forage for food in the ever more desperate city and watch her little brother grow cruelly thin. Their father, a blacklisted writer who once advocated a robust life of the mind, withers in spirit and body. At such brutal times everything is tested. And yet Dunmore's inspiring story shows that even then, the triumph of the human heart is that love need not fall away. "The novel's imaginative richness," writes The Washington Post, "lies in this implicit question: In dire physical circumstances, is it possible to have an inner life? The answer seems to be that no survival is possible without one." Amid the turmoil of the siege, the unimaginable happens -- two people enter the Levins' frozen home and bring a kind of romance where before there was only bare survival. A sensitive young doctor becomes Anna's devoted partner, and her father is allowed a transcendent final episode with a mysterious woman from his past. The Siege marks an exciting new phase in a brilliant career, observed Publishers Weekly in a starred review: "Dunmore has built a sizable audience ... but this book should lift her to another level of literary prominence." "Dunmore's ... novel ... is an intimate record of an extraordinary human disaster ... a moving story of personal triumph and public tragedy." -- Laura Ciolkowski, San Francisco Chronicle "In Helen Dunmore's hands, this epic subject assumes a lyrical honesty that sometimes wrenches but more often lifts the spirit." -- Frances Taliaferro, The Washington Post "Dunmore unravels the tangle of suffering, war, and base emotions to produce a story woven with love ... Extraordinary." -- Barbara Conaty, Library Journal (starred review)

First line

buildings hang over them, crushingly magnificent. In times like these the roads are too wide.

Details

  • Title The Siege
  • Author Helen Dunmore
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Grove Press
  • Date 2002-11-22
  • ISBN 9780802139580 / 0802139582
  • Weight 0.76 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.24 x 5.58 x 0.77 in (20.93 x 14.17 x 1.96 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Historical fiction
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booksense '76 Jan/Feb 2003, 01/01/2003, Page 1
  • Entertainment Weekly, 01/10/2003, Page 73
  • New York Times, 01/26/2003, Page 28
Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

The Siege: A Novel
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege: A Novel

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Very Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£1.65
£2.41 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove Press. Used - Very Good. . . Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours.
Item Price
£1.65
£2.41 shipping to USA
The Siege: A Novel
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege: A Novel

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Frederick, Maryland, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£3.55
£3.20 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove Press. Used - Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Item Price
£3.55
£3.20 shipping to USA
The Siege

The Siege

by Helen Dunmore

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
5
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.81
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated, 2002. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
£4.81
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. Used - Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Reno, Nevada, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
£4.83
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege

The Siege

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.85
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove Press, 2002. Paperback. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
£4.85
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege: A Novel
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege: A Novel

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
UsedAcceptable
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Interlochen, Michigan, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£4.94
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
UsedAcceptable. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing (age related spots and browning). May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
Item Price
£4.94
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege

by Dunmore, Helen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Reno, Nevada, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£5.23
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. Used - Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
£5.23
FREE shipping to USA
The Siege: A Novel
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Siege: A Novel

by Helen Dunmore

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 13
9780802139580
ISBN 10
0802139582
Quantity Available
1
Seller
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
£6.30
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Grove Press, 2002-11-22. Paperback. Good.
Item Price
£6.30
FREE shipping to USA