Hunger vs morality

An unusual, interesting debut novel, set during the siege of Leningrad from 1941 to 1944, in which thousands of Russians lost their lives to famine.

The narrator and his wife Alena, along with their fellow workers, have sworn to protect the valuable seed banks at the institute where they work and, with them, years of priceless research.

As hunger sets in, however, the conflict between survival and morality starts corroding superficial notions of what it means to be human. A brief, stark parable on the existential crisis of endurance.