City of Thieves Hardback - 2008

by David Benioff

As wise andfunny as it isthrilling andoriginal the storyof two young menon an impossibleadventureA writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to documenttheir experience during the infamous siege of Leningrad. Hisgrandmother won't talk about it, but his grandfather reluctantlyconsents. The result is the captivating odyssey of two young mentrying to survive against desperate odds.Lev Beniov considers himself 'built for deprivation.' He'ssmall, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army,who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter withfriends from his building. When a dead German paratrooperlands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged tojail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic andgrandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertioncharges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Levand Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complyingwith an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerfulcolonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off fromall supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolyaembark on a hunt to find the impossible. A search that takes themthrough the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and the devastated surroundingcountryside creates an unlikely bond between this earnest,lust-filled teenager and an endearing lothario with the giftsof a conman. Set within the monumental events of history, City ofThieves is an intimate coming-of-age tale with an utterly contemporaryfeel for how boys become men.