Welcome, my friend! I am always trying to learn more about the world through my reading and historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to learn with. Suzanne Parry’s Lost Souls of Leningrad caught my eye because it talks about Russia in the 1940s. My knowledge of Russian history is very limited. So, I was happy to pick up this book! Let’s start with the synopsis.
Lost Souls of Leningrad
By Suzzane Parry | Goodreads
Read: Nov 6-11
June 1941. Hitler’s armies race toward vulnerable Leningrad. In a matter of weeks, the Nazis surround the city, cut off the food supply, and launch a vicious bombardment. Widowed violinist Sofya Karavayeva and her teenage granddaughter, Yelena, are cornered in the crumbling city.
On Leningrad’s outskirts, Admiral Vasili Antonov defends his homeland and fights for a future with Sofya. Meanwhile, Yelena’s soldier fianće transports food across the Ice Road–part of the desperate effort to save Leningrad. With their help, the two women inch toward survival, but the war still exacts a steep personal price, even as Sofya’s reckoning with a family secret threatens to finish what Hitler started.
Equal parts war epic, family saga, and love story, Lost Souls of Leningrad brings to vivid life this little-known chapter of World War II in a tale of two remarkable women–grandmother and granddaughter–separated by years and experience but of one heart in their devotion to each other and the men they love. Neither the oppression of Stalin nor the brutality of Hitler can destroy their courage, compassion, or will in this testament to resilience.
Content notes include child death, death, war, infidelity, starvation, cannibalism.
The amazing writing of Lost Souls of Leningrad
It was hard for me to get into a book about a place with so much history and that is completely on me because I did not have much context. I took this as an opportunity to learn about Russia and I spent almost an hour watching OverSimplified on YouTube tell me all about the Tsar and Lenin and prominent names from Russia that I have heard from time and time and not bothered to look for much info. The funny part was that I stopped watching just as Lenin was coming into power.
Lost Souls of Leningrad is set some years later, when Stalin is already in power and Lenin has passed away.
The story of a grandmother and granddaughter who have to survive the siege at Leningrad, Sofya and Yelena are amazing protagonists and add so much to the writing. They help paint the city of Leningrad with love and heartbreak, from the times when the city is fighting the battle with the food shortage and cold, keeping up their morale by discovering solace in music and chess. My husband Clinton plays chess and watching Queen’s Gambit also gave me some insight into how chess is part of Russian culture as a household game. To see that depicted in the everyday life of the people in this book felt authentic! To read about them using it in the bunkers as they hid during bombing was terrifying. To escape the realities of war, we have to turn to something else. A board of chess will do.
Sofya lives with her son, his wife and their daughter. She is an acclaimed violinist. She has her views about the Party and that alludes to the tensions leading up to the 1940s. Early in the book, her son is taken captive. When war breaks out and Germans become a real threat, she is left with her granddaughter, her mother having to join the war effort as well. Between that time though, Sofya has gotten in touch with an ex-love of hers and Antonov quickly becomes a regular part of the household, helping them as much as he can with his love, support, wealth and position of power as an Admiral.
Sofya is a great role model to have! She is strong and compassionate. She is also human. She has made mistakes but ultimately stuck to her values and done the best she can for her family. She has learned her lessons from previous power struggles in Russia, so the Germans’ advancing towards Leningrad isn’t her first time. But as it happens when something is so extreme that thinking of it as likely is unlikely, Sofya is not successful in being as prepared as she would have liked to be.
Yelena has her own love interest in the story. Pavel played a key role in the war effort, starting with building railroads and ultimately becoming a driver, transporting goods and then people from Leningrad to northern Russia. Earlier in the book, the young people’s perspectives are helpful. Their zeal to join the war effort is contagious. Their love for their country and the desire to make a difference is commendable. All the characters are easy to love.
War is horrific though and even the most innocent humane efforts are not safe. Yelena, being underage, is assigned to help move children out of Leningrad to other parts of Russia. I remember reading about similar efforts in Europe in The Children’s Train. The attack on the train was heartbreaking to read and it is written so well that it was very easy to be in that place of terror and sadness with Yelena. Hard times are not the reason to turn away anyone though and the little kids in this story, Alyosha and Sasha are adorable. Sofya and Yelena take them in and the perseverance of humans shines through their stories.
I also got a glimpse of the internal Russian politics, the classical blame-game on why the soldiers had to fall back and who in the chain of command would be punished. I was reminded of similar military meetings in The Ballad of Love and Glory, a historical fiction about the Mexican War. Lost Souls of Leningrad touches on the lives of the people fighting as well as the people left in the city. It offers perspectives on many relationships – old love, new love, friendship – in the face of war.
Concluding thought on Lost Souls of Leningrad
I enjoyed this book. It was hard to read at times and that is to be expected. Suzanne’s writing is immersive and the characters are so well done that I didn’t want to leave them in their hard times. I wanted to see a good ending, I was rooting for them all to survive!
Lost Souls of Leningrad is a great read. Knowing more about Russian politics in the pre-1940s would make this book more enjoyable. An author’s note/appendix to explain the historical background of the time would have been helpful. But even without it, the story is so captivating that the context the characters provide is enough for the book and gives a good pace to the plot. I am glad I picked it up!
Will you give it a read? Add it to your shelf on Goodreads.
About the Author
Suzanne, a Soviet Union expert who studied Russian in Moscow and worked for the US Department of Defense, has used her knowledge to craft a stunning story surrounding the often-forgotten town of Leningrad during WWII.
I will be back with my interview with Suzanne! 🙂
Song to go along with this book: The Great War (from Sofya and Antonov’s point of view).
All that bloodshed, crimson clover
Taylor Swift, The Great War
Uh-huh, sweet dream was over
My hand was the one you reached for
All throughout the Great War
Always remember
Uh-huh, tears on the letter
I vowed not to cry anymore
If we survived the Great War
Related historical fiction books you can check out:
- A Ballad of Love and Glory & Interview with Reyna Grande – love story during the Mexican war while on the battlefield.
- The Children’s Train – about children being transported to other parts of the world because their home city was under attack
- The Mountains Sing – for the grandmother-daughter relationship
- The Paris Library – living in a city being invaded
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book for an honest review.
Cover Photo by Serj Sakharovskiy on Unsplash
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