Under no circumstances would these two become friends. They meet when both are about to be shot. In prison. In besieged Leningrad. In 1942. One is a thoughtful, not very brave, slightly gloomy teenager Lev, the son of a repressed poet. And the second is the carefree conqueror of women’s hearts, Nikolai. And suddenly they get an unexpected chance to survive... A dynamic, biting, cinematic novel about besieged Leningrad, written by Hollywood screenwriter David Benioff. This is a new perspective of a modern young man on the past of his family, on the war - and, despite the unreality of what is happening, a very sincere story about true friendship and true love.