The Madonnas of Leningrad

As Alzheimer's insidiously corrodes Marina Buriakov's mind, she finds herself slipping out of the present and back to the days when as a young woman she lived with hundreds of other families in the basement of the Hermitage Museum during the siege of Leningrad. As the details of Marina's granddaughter's wedding fade, the famous paintings she once tried to protect from the Nazi bombs become increasingly vivid. Debra Dean's lyrical debut novel shimmers with fleeting and beautiful memories and powerfully portrays the emotional bonds forged by the Russian families living through the chaos of war.