City of Thieves: A Novel

Front Cover
Penguin, 2008 - Fiction - 258 pages
As wise and funny as it is thrilling and original—the story of two young men on an impossible adventure

A writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to document their experience during the infamous siege of Leningrad. His grandmother won’t talk about it, but his grandfather reluctantly consents. The result is the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds.

Lev Beniov considers himself “built for deprivation.” He’s small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building. When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt to find the impossible. A search that takes them through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and the devastated surrounding countryside creates an unlikely bond between this earnest, lust-filled teenager and an endearing lothario with the gifts of a conman. Set within the monumental events of history, City of Thievesis an intimate coming-of-age tale with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
 

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
7
Section 3
18
Section 4
25
Section 5
38
Section 6
48
Section 7
63
Section 8
71
Section 16
134
Section 17
149
Section 18
158
Section 19
170
Section 20
177
Section 21
189
Section 22
198
Section 23
204

Section 9
77
Section 10
88
Section 11
94
Section 12
100
Section 13
107
Section 14
113
Section 15
125
Section 24
216
Section 25
234
Section 26
238
Section 27
252
Section 28
255
Section 29
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

David Benioff was born and raised in New York City. He adapted his first novel, The 25th Hour, into the feature film directed by Spike Lee. With many other screenplays to his credit, he is also the writer of the films, "Brothers" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". Stories from his critically acclaimed collection When the Nines Roll Over appeared in Best New American Voices and The Best Nonrequired American Reading. His latest novel is City of Thieves. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter where he is a co-creator and writer for the HBO hit series "Game of Thrones."  
 

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