The best novel that I have accidentally come across in a long while, "City of Thieves" is a moving story of the author's grandfather's youth in war-torn Russia. The plot, written in first person in the grandfather's voice, follows him from the St. Petersburg (or Leningrad) that he knew to a long, meandering, and extremely dangerous mission with an essential stranger. The story follows the relationship of the two young men, and their treacherous journey, in beautifully descriptive language.
It is unclear how much of the story is strictly biographical, but it is obvious that the author captured the feeling of the time in his grandfather's life, and the pain of growing up in the midst of war.
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