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The Betrayal

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The Betrayal

By: Helen Dunmore
Narrated by: Jilly Bond
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About this listen

Leningrad in 1952: a city recovering from war, where Andrei, a young doctor and Anna, a school teacher, are forging a life together. Summers at the dacha, preparations for the hospital ball, work and the care of 16-year-old Kolya fill their minds. They try hard to avoid coming to the attention of the authorities, but even so their happiness is precarious. Stalin is still in power, and the Ministry for State Security has new targets in its sights. When Andrei has to treat the seriously ill child of a senior secret police officer he finds himself and his family caught in an impossible game - for in a land ruled by whispers and watchfulness, betrayal can come from those closest to you.

©2010 Helen Dunmore (P)2010 Isis Publishing Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic reviews

"An absorbing and thoughtful tale." ( Guardian)
"Superbly well paced." ( Telegraph)
"Dunmore's writing... is sensuous, physical and almost synaesthetic." ( Independent)
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this was a slow burn. it recycled and repeated from The Siege which is a much better novel. The fear and paranoia of Stalinist Russia was however suberbly done as was the Lubiyanka section.

not dunmore's best but worth a read

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I enjoyed this story; there was enough human interest as well as historical content to keep the reader wondering what the end was going to be like.

Moving and insightful

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well written but terrible. A much loved and respected paediatrician is tricked into taking on the care of a fatally sick son of a top KGB official. The consequences, despite excellent medical care and totally beyond the control of the doctor, have profound implications for the patient and doctor and his family.I had to skip the years of misery, read the end and then go back and try to endure them. awful and probably very representative of what went on under Stalin.

miserable reminder of Stalin's Russia

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Helen Dunmore does it again! I'd already read The Siege', so I opted for 'The Betrayal', I'm so glad I did, it was brought to life by a great narrator. We in the west always had an inkling of how brutal Russian history under Stalin was (a guide mentioned it to us on a tour we were on in St. Petersburg or Leningrad in the story). But how lucky are we to enjoy freedom & liberty to say what we like & have our own opinion. A great story in a harrowing time.

Brutal but compelling!

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Excellent sequel to The Seige. Brilliantly researched. powerful storytelling. v gripping indeed. Thoroughly good read.

wonderful

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