City of Thieves

David Benioff

408 pages

'AN EXCEPTIONAL STORYTELLER' Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner 'Ingenious' New York Times Book Review 'Compelling' Daily Telegraph 'Fast-moving' Spectator 'Cinematic' Marie Claire 'Gripping' New York Magazine From the co-creator and writer of the award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime. Four months into the siege of Leningrad, the city is starving. Seventeen-year-old Lev fears for his life when he is arrested for looting the body of a dead German paratrooper, while his charismatic cellmate, Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested for desertion, seems bizarrely unafraid. Dawn brings, instead of an execution squad, an impossible challenge. Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs for an NKVD colonel to use for his daughter's wedding cake, and live. Or fail, and die. In the depths of the coldest winter in history, through a city cut off from all supplies and suffering appalling deprivation, man and boy embark on an absurd hunt. Their search will take them through desolate, lawless Leningrad and the devastated countryside surrounding it, in the captivating journey of two men trying to survive against desperate odds. PRAISE FOR DAVID BENIOFF 'Master of the zippy, punchy, knee-to-the-groin story' Independent on Sunday 'An ace storyteller' Entertainment Weekly 'A skilled creator' Daily Telegraph