Irina Davydovna is a cleaner. She has no time for politics or even for that matter, people: 'rules and rulers may come and go, but dirt never changes.' Boris Aleksandrovich is a revolutionary. He thinks he understands power. But this is Leningrad in 1933 and Stalin is about to turn against their city. When the life of his beloved daughter Natasha is threatened and his old friend Anton saves a skinny little orphan he finds on a Moscow train, Boris' faith in his ideals are put to the test. While Irina, watching it all, must learn the power of loyalty and love.
'Powerful and moving, Ice Road is a novel whose epic scope never obscures the individual lives that are lived in the shadow of great events. I shall never forget Natasha and Kolya's love story . . . or Irina, whose sturdy self respect and determination to survive, seems, at times, to speak for an entire people. Gillian Slovo excels in depicting complex human beings, full of passion, love, ambition, self-interest, who are caught up in their country's history and swept along by it.' Pat Barker

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About the Author
Born in South Africa, Gillian Slovo came with her family to Britain in 1964. She has written nine novels, one of which, Red Dust has been filmed with Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Her first play, Guantanamo, played in London's West End and off-Broadway in New York.

Reviews
I grew to love Slovo's powerful narrator, the redoubtable cleaning lady Irina Davydovna . . . Slovo has produced a novel which is demanding, brave and bold . . . Many writers have used the brutal effects of the Seige of Leningrad to explore courage, betrayal and survival, but Slovo adds something important.'- Charlie Lee-Potter, Observer * 'This is a novel that explores the motivation and consequences of political events on ordinary lives . . . Ice Road brilliantly depicts, from the emotional inside, the most politically disastrous assassination in Russian history, the murder of Kirov . . . *
#NAME? * 'This is a beautifully composed, expertly structured and wonderfully evocative masterpiece - Gillian Slovo's greatest achievement to date' *
Daily Mail * 'Slovo describes the death of an ideal with a passion that makes her book moving and memorable' *
Sunday Telegraph * 'Rings absolutely true... a moving and perceptive epic of utopia in darkness' *


Awards
Short-listed for Orange Prize 2004 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781844080595
Author Gillian Slovo
Format Paperback
Page Count 560
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 395g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 126mm * 37mm