Kolya and Lev decide that the first place to look for eggs would be the Haymarket, a black market where farmers smuggle in food in exchange for various things that people in the city have no use for: silverware or fancy clothing. The two talk briefly about chess, and Kolya wagers that he could defeat Lev in a match. The Colonel confiscates their ration cards, and sends them on their way. In order to not be executed, the two are told to find one dozen eggs in Leningrad for the Colonel’s daughter’s wedding in six days. Lev stole ‘state property’ from the body of the German, and Kolya stole from the state by deserting. The Colonel, Grechko, explains that he needs the services of two ‘thieves’.

On the way, the guards mention that Kolya is a deserter, which Kolya protests. In the morning, they are taken from the prison to an influential Colonel in the Soviet Secret Police.

The two begin to strike up conversation to pass the time, wondering why they aren’t being executed. He goes on to say that he even speaks some German. Kolya jokes that he volunteered to be a spy, but nobody listened to him. Lev spitefully responds, asking whether Kolya is a Nazi, a commentary on his blond hair and blue eyes. He is thrown into the Crosses, an infamous prison.Īfter a few hours alone in the dark, another prisoner is introduced into the cell, Nikolai Alexandrovich Vlasov, nicknamed Kolya. As they are looting, a military car rolls by and attempts to arrest the group for breaking curfew.

Lev finds a sheath strapped to the pilot’s ankle, and takes it and the knife it contains. As they view the body, they begin to loot various items, a flask of liquor, a pistol, warm gloves, and a scarf. The pilot’s body drops into their street, and the teenagers rush down with morbid curiosity to take a look. One night, as he and his friends are waiting on the roof of their apartment building the Kirov, a dead German pilot glides in from the sky, held aloft by a parachute. Lev Beniov, a young man, is alone in the city, his mother and sister have been evacuated, but he has volunteered to remain, working for the state as a volunteer firefighter, as he is too young to fight on the front lines. German soldiers surround the Russian city, food is hard to come by, and hope is deteriorating rapidly. It is the midpoint of the brutal Siege of Leningrad, January of 1942. His grandmother, infamous for never cooking in the family, is less open about her origins. His grandfather had killed two Germans before he was 18. The novel begins with a brief prologue, detailing the origins of the story, supposedly coming from the author’s grandparents, specifically his grandfather, who told him the story of their time in the Soviet Union during World War II. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

City of thieves benioff