Described as the greatest Russian novel of the twentieth century, Vasily Grossman's magnificent novel was inspired by War and Peace. Drawing on his experiences as a war correspondent at Stalingrad, the book centres on the impact of the battle there on the large extended family of Lyumilla Shaposhnikova,  throughout the course of the fighting. Grossman's brutal honesty about the regime he had loyally served at the time, together with his observations of how pressure and tension change even the best of us, are reflections of his own struggles with his conscience after the war for the part he played in supporting the Soviet authorities.
 
Recommended by the History Department and available in the Senior School Library.