"An unforgettable story of love, survival and the power of imagination in the most tragic circumstances. Elegant and poetic." -- Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of Zorro

The ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories -- the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild -- yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind's eye.

Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army's approach signaled the beginning of what would be a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation, bitter cold, and a relentless German onslaught, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping. As the Luftwaffe's bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mind -- a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more...
"Extraordinary... Dean's exquisite prose shimmers... illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment." -- Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker

"A poignant tale." -- Booklist, starred review

"Dean writes with passion and compelling drama." -- People

"Rare is the novel that creates that blissful forgot-you-were-reading experience... but that is precisely what Debra Dean has achieved with her image-rich book." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Poetic." -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"[A] heartfelt debut." -- New York Times Book Review

"Remarkable" -- NPR, Nancy Pearl Book Review

• We started tracking this book on July 9, 2010.
• This book was $9.99 when we started tracking it.
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• The current price of this book is $2.99 last checked one day ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past year.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on February 28, 2022.
• This book has been $1.99 5 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $13.99 last reached on August 25, 2023.
• This book has been $13.99 3 times since we started tracking it.

• Literature & Fiction

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• Print Length: 256 Pages
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