As promised, another book review! This one is The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons.

This book was a recommendation from a friend at work. Every time I saw her, she complimented the heck out of it, saying it’s her favourite book. As we have a lot of common interests, and this is a genre I don’t usually read, I thought I would have a go at reading it.

Firstly, the book is named as such for the 1833 poem The Bronze Horseman by Aleksandr Pushkin. The reason for the title, it becomes clear, is because the poem is often quoted throughout the novel. For a more historical context, one focus of the poem is Pushkin’s depiction of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. Peter was depicted as a great leader, and in Soviet Russia Stalin was compared to him. The people praised Stalin as their own great leader.

To give a little outline of the story, the book is set in Leningrad, Russia in 1941 at the time the Germans invade the country. It is centred around a story of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha, and a soldier Alexander. It is the story of a love that advances and blossoms despite many obstacles, and in the face of overwhelming adversity. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking, full of hope and despair.

I have never read a book like this before. I thought it would be, primarily, a love story. I suppose it is that. But the book goes into excruciating detail to describe the bombing of the city, the harshness of the Leningrad winter, and the famine that threatens to overwhelm everyone. It goes from one extreme – a love story – to another – a tale of a family struggling to survive during war. I found a lot of it interesting, as during this time the Soviet Union was a communist society headed by Joseph Stalin. The amount of blind faith that the characters (indeed, Russians in general) showed in Stalin, even in the face of a terrible winter war, was astounding.

There were plenty of moments I wanted to put the book down. Not because it was bad. Indeed, I think Simons captures each character perfectly. The manner of speaking, frame of mind and habits are all well written. The Russian culture is not exaggerated, but comes across as perfectly natural. But there were some terrible moments. The famine suffered is heartbreaking, the way the family in question were eating so little. Eventually, they were eating bread that they realised was mostly sawdust rather than flour. The way people would just lay down and die in the streets from both the cold and hunger, and the people that would succumb to cannibalism because there was nothing else to eat. It was extremely eye-opening. That, and the way the constant bombing of the city became normal.

This is the first book I have read by Paullina Simons and I have to say, if this is any indication of the rest of her novels I am definitely intrigued to read more of her work. Even despite the terrible things that happen, it is worth a read. Even if you read it just for the love story – for it is truly amazing. The way two peoples’ love can survive the brutal winter, the war, famine and disease. It provides a message that pulls on your heartstrings – love can outlast anything.

The only thing I did not like – at no real fault of the author, simply a personal preference – is the main character and some of her behaviours. I think they are pretty spot-on for a woman of her time, but some of her decisions irritated me. Again, this is just my opinion. But she was a very realistic and well-formed character, which is more important than me liking her. I have read plenty of books that I have enjoyed, while not 100% liking the main character.

All in all, if you are looking for some good historical fiction during wartime, I would highly recommend it. There are two more books following this, I believe. This would probably still be fine as a once-off, but the story is left somewhat unfinished and the ending is bittersweet.

When I end up reading the next books, I may review them as well. Stay tuned! But the next review I post will probably be American Gods by Neil Gaiman.