It is December 1941, and eight-year-old Galina and her friend Vera are caught in the siege of Leningrad, eating wallpaper soup and dead rats. Galina's artist father Mikhail has been kept away from the front to help save the treasures of the Hermitage. Its cellars could provide a safe haven, as long as Mikhail can survive the perils of a commission from one of Stalin's colonels. Three decades on, Galina is a teacher at the Leningrad Art Institute. What ought to be a celebratory weekend at her forest dacha turns sour when she makes an unwelcome discovery. The painting she starts that day will hold a grim significance for the rest of her life, as the old Soviet Union makes way for the new Russia and her world changes out of all recognition. Warm, wise and utterly enthralling, Molly Gartland's debut novel guides us from the old communist era, with its obvious terrors and its more surprising comforts, into the bling of 21st-century St Petersburg. Galina's story is an insightful meditation on ageing and nostalgia as well as a compelling page-turner.

'A beautifully written book that takes you right into the characters' world. Highly recommended' - Lucinda Hawksley, 'The best historical fiction helps us walk through history alongside ordinary people and that's what The Girl from the Hermitage achieves with deceptive ease. Molly Garland's evocation of Russian life in all its contrasting stages is always utterly convincing and frequently affecting. It's a terrific debut' - Liz Trenow, 'A captivating and richly imagined portrait of love, life and survival' - Caroline Ambrose, founder, Bath Novel Award

About the Author
Originally from Michigan, Molly Gartland worked in Moscow from 1994 to 2000 and has been fascinated by Russian culture ever since. She has an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary's University, Twickenham and lives in London. The manuscript for her debut novel The Girl from the Hermitage was shortlisted for the Impress Prize and longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition, the Bath Novel Award and Grindstone Novel Award.

Reviews
'An author who has a clear talent for parlaying careful research into a credible sense of time and place, she has provided a a fine addition to the rich genre of historical fiction set in St. Petersburg' - Moscow Times, 'Sweeps its heroine from surviving on soup made from wallpaper in 40s Leningrad to the bling of 21st-century St Peterburg. Recommended' - Waitrose Weekend, 'Characters are sketched sensitively with the same fragility as their existence. Galina's story considers the reality of ageing and the value of nostalgia. Elegantly written, convincing...an enthralling read' - Yorkshire Times, 'Stunning... Here is human survival in every form. This is an extraordinarily well-written book for a debut' - Historical Novels Review


Awards
Commended for Mslexia Novel Competition 2017 and Bath Novel Award 2018 and Grindstone Novel Award 2018. Short-listed for Impress [Prize 2017.



Book Information
ISBN 9781785631887
Author Molly Gartland
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Lightning Books
Publisher Eye Books
Weight(grams) 240g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 18mm