City of Thieves

You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold. When we slept, if we slept, we dreamed of the feasts we had carelessly eaten seven months earlier all that buttered bread, the potato dumplings, the sausages eaten with disregard, swallowing without tasting, leaving great crumbs on our plates, scraps of fat. In June of 1941, before the Germans came, we thought we were poor. But June seemed like paradise by winter.

At night the wind blew so loud and long it startled you when it stopped; the shutter hinges of the burnt-out café on the corner would quit creaking for a few ominous seconds, as if a predator neared and the smaller animals hushed in terror. The shutters themselves had been torn down for firewood in November. There was no more scrap wood in Leningrad. Every wood sign, the slats of the park benches, the floorboards of shattered buildings all gone and burning in someone's stove. The pigeons were missing, too, caught and stewed in melted ice from the Neva. No one minded slaughtering pigeons. It was the dogs and cats that caused trouble. You would hear a rumor in October that someone had roasted the family mutt and split it four ways for supper; we'd laugh and shake our heads, not believing it, and also wondering if dog tasted good with enough salt there was still plenty of salt, even when everything else ran out we had salt. By January the rumors had become plain fact. No one but the best connected could still feed a pet, so the pets fed us.

There were two theories on the fat versus the thin. Some said those who were fat before the war stood a better chance of survival: a week without food would not transform a plump man into a skeleton. Others said skinny people were more accustomed to eating little and could better handle the shock of starvation. I stood in the latter camp, purely out of self-interest. I was a runt from birth. Big-nosed, black-haired, skin scribbled with acne let's admit I was no girl's idea of a catch. But war

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."  

"This spellbinding story perfectly blends tragedy and comedy." -"USA Today" "Benioff has produced a funny, sad, and thrilling novel." -"Entertainment Weekly" "Benioff blends humor and horror expertly." -"San Francisco Chronicle" "A deft storyteller, Benioff writes about starvation, cannibalism, and Nazi atrocities with poise and cinematic flair. If "Thieves" were a movie, it would start out like "Schindler's List" and end up like "Raiders of the Lost Ark."" -"People" "The novel tells a refreshingly traditional tale, driven by an often ingenious plot.... He shifts tone with perfect control-no recent novel I've read travels so quickly and surely between registers, from humor to devastation...." -"New York Times Book Review" ""City of Thieves" is a coming-of-age story brilliantly amplified by its worn-torn backdrop. Benioff's finest achievement in "City of Thieves" has been to banish all possible pretensions from his novel, whicha

The novel tells a refreshingly traditional tale, driven by an often ingenious plot . . . [Benioff] shifts tone with perfect control no recent novel I have read travels so quickly and surely between registers, from humor to devastation.
The New York Times Book Review

This spellbinding story perfectly blends tragedy and comedy.
USA Today

Splendid . . . Benioff has produced a funny, sad, and thrilling novel.  
Entertainment Weekly 

Benioff (a co-creator of HBO s Game of Thrones ) peppers his swift-moving plot with pitch-dark humor and unexpected turns. It s a rousing reading experience, to cackle aloud at one paragraph then gasp at the next. . . . I m glad I waited until warm weather to start this winter s tale. But really, any other time would have been just fine. There s no bad season to read a book this good.
Ken Jaworowski, The New York Times Book Review

Benioff blends humor and horror expertly.  
San Francisco Chronicle

A deft storyteller, Benioff writes about starvation, cannibalism, and Nazi atrocities with poise and cinematic flair. If Thieves were a movie, it would start out like Schindler s List and end up like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
People

"City of Thieves is a coming-of-age story brilliantly amplified by its worn-torn backdrop . . . Benioff s finest achievement in "City of Thieves" has been to banish all possible pretensions from his novel, which never wears its research on its sleeve, and to deliver a rough-and-tumble tale that clenches humor, savagery, and pathos squarely together on the same page."
The Washington Post

City of Thieves is flat-out great . . . Benioff s screen writing chops are in full force here - the plot careens along with cinematic verve - but that s expected. The surprise is Benioff s understated wisdom and tenderness.
Men s Journal
 
David Benioff,