February 2017 Host:  Jennie

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Summary

This story takes place in the besieged city of Leningrad in 1941 and focuses on the relationship between an intelligent 17-year old Jewish boy and a worldly and handsome college boy.  They are arrested by the Germans for looting and other crimes and are given a reprieve from execution if they can complete one task.  Their mission is an impossible one:  finding a dozen eggs for a colonel’s daughter’s wedding cake during the blockade of Leningrad and its subsequent famine.   Their travels take them through a nightmarish odyssey through a freezing countryside populated with cannibals, starving children, and prostitutes.  At times funny and often terrifying, the author is able to blend humor with the grisly aspects of war and produces an engaging page turner.  Highly recommended. 

I forgot to snap a few pictures at this book club gathering, I was probably having too much fun!