The Betrayal
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3.1 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A "magnificent, brave, tender" novel of post-WWII Russia from the author of The Siege—shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and Commonwealth Writers' Prize (The Independent on Sunday).
Leningrad 1952. Andrei, a young doctor, and Anna, a nursery school teacher, have forged a life together in the postwar, post-siege wreckage. But they know their happiness is precarious, like that of millions of Russians who must avoid the claws of Stalin's merciless Ministry of State Security.
When Andrei is forced to treat the sick child of a senior secret police officer, his every move is scrutinized, making it painfully clear that his own fate—and that of his family—is bound to the child's. Trapped in an impossible game of life and death, Andrei and Anna must avoid the whispers and watchful eyes of those who will say and do anything to save themselves . . .
With The Betrayal, internationally acclaimed author Helen Dunmore "vividly depicts the difficulty of living by principle in a tyrannical society, in which paranoia infects every act, and even ordinary citizens become instruments of terror" (The New Yorker).
"An emotionally charged thriller, The Betrayal unfolds breathlessly and with great skill. . . . You don't want to put it down. . . . Elegant yet devastating." —The Seattle Times
"With precise period detail and astute psychological insight, Dunmore brings the last months of Stalin's reign to life and reminds us why some eras shouldn't be forgotten." —Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dunmore revisits Stalin's Leningrad in a powerful novel set a decade after The Siege. It's 1952 and Andrei Alekseyev; his wife, Anna Levina, a nursery school teacher; and her younger brother, Kolya (key characters in The Siege), have learned to live inconspicuously. In a world in which citizens are expected to be "vigilant" in reporting questionable behavior, attracting attention can lead to imprisonment or death. Andrei is a pediatrician with a dilemma in the form of a very ill 10-year-old boy whose surname evokes terror: Volkov, the boy's father, is an infamous senior officer in the Ministry for State Security. Andrei has little hope that his professional ethics will protect him or his family, but he allows them to guide him nonetheless, and the tale that unfolds is riveting. Dunmore alludes to the arrest of hundreds of physicians, most of them Jews, but for Andrei, the danger isn't that Volkov considers him part of the fabricated conspiracy of "murderers in white coats." The threat is that Volkov likes to punish those who displease him. With precise period detail and astute psychological insight, Dunmore brings the last months of Stalin's reign to life and reminds us why some eras shouldn't be forgotten.
