First published 2008
Arrested for looting, Lev Beniov is thrown into a Leningrad jail cell with a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of execution, they're given an outrageous task: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel's daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unimaginable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a harrowing hunt to find the impossible. Dodging Nazis and brutal scavengers, their journey becomes an intimate coming-of-age story as the two very different young men form an unlikely bond of friendship and courage.
Genres: friendship, historical-fiction, adventure, coming-of-age
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Russia, Leningrad, Saint Petersburg (Russia), United States
Period: Siege, 1941-1944
437 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Pr