The Diary of Lena Mukhina
Lena Mukhina
Translated by Amanda Darragh Love
Paperback
21 April 2016Imprint: Pan
Synopsis
A harrowing true account of a teenage girl's struggle to survive the Siege of Leningrad during World War II.
In May 1941, Lena Mukhina was an ordinary teenage girl living in Leningrad, worrying about homework and her crush, Vova. Like a good Soviet schoolgirl, she diligently learned German, the language of Russia's Nazi ally, and kept a diary of her hopes...
Details
21 April 2016368 pages
9781447269915Imprint: Pan
Reviews
Sixteen-year-old Lena Mukhina's diary is to the Siege of Leningrad what Anne Frank's was to Nazi-occupied Amsterdam ... A must read for young adults and their parents everywhere.Rachel Holmes, author of Eleanor Marx: A Life
Even at the height of the Leningrad Siege, starving and surrounded by death and destruction, Lena Mukhina somehow continued to keep a diary. Her story, though searing, is an inspiration.Robert Service, author of Stalin: A Biography
The Anne Frank of Leningrad ... Almost unbearably moving ... Her suffering is real and terrible. As we read on, we can feel something important sapping out of her. Call it spirit, if you like, or the optimism of youth. But adversity does not strengthen her; it corrodes her. She gets away, but the best of her, we suspect, she has left behind.Marcus Berkmann, Mail on Sunday
Lena's diary, sustained by emotional stamina and driven by daily drama, describes one of the worst civilian horrors of modern wartime.Iain Finlayson, The Times
