In 2002 Helen Dunmore published a brilliant book called The Siege, the story of the Nazi’s winter siege of Leningrad that killed 600,000 people in 1942. When the novel ended, Anna, a 22 year old woman, was continuing her fight against the cold and starvation. Dunmore’s new novel, The Betrayal, continues Anna’s story. It’s 1952, Anna has married Andrei, her doctor love from The Siege, and with her 16 year old brother Kolya, they try to build a new life. But it is Stalinist Russia. Andrei is called in to treat the seriously ill son of a senior secret police officer. His associates have refused to get involved because failure spells doom. Andrei’s position is heartbreaking. It’s storytelling on a grand scale.
