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Saint Petersburg: Sacrifice and Redemption in the City that Defied Hitler
The epic story of the "900 days and nights” of the Siege of Leningrad, set within the history of the iconic city from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin. In the crucible of World War II, Saint Petersburg—then known as Leningrad—stands as a testament to human endurance. As the Nazis encircle the city, intent on annihilating its 1.5 million inhabitants, the narrative plunges into the harrowing nine hundred days and nights of relentless hardship and unyielding resilience. Starving residents, horrified by their own gaunt reflections, resort to bulking bread with wood shavings, consuming wallpaper paste, and even turning to their pets. Workers at the mass crematorium numb their horror with extra vodka rations. Yet, amid this suffering, the resilience of culture and hope shines through, with orchestras and theatres defiantly continuing their performances, a flicker of humanity against the backdrop of despair. This book not only chronicles the Siege of Leningrad but also traces the pivotal importance of Saint Petersburg across the centuries. From Peter the Great’s visionary founding of the city, through its revolutionary rebirth as Petrograd and its Soviet identity as Leningrad, to its renaissance as Saint Petersburg in the post-Soviet era, we explore the layers of history that shape this extraordinary place
432 pages, Hardcover
Published January 6, 2026
About the author
Sinclair McKay
57 books180 followersSinclair McKay writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph and The Secret Listeners and has written books about James Bond and Hammer horror for Aurum. His next book, about the wartime “Y” Service during World War II, is due to be published by Aurum in 2012. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2025
Book Review: Saint Petersburg: Sacrifice and Redemption in the City That Defied Hitler by Sinclair McKay
Rating: 5/5
Sinclair McKay’s Saint Petersburg is a masterwork of historical storytelling—a book that left me emotionally gutted yet profoundly inspired. McKay doesn’t just recount the Siege of Leningrad; he immerses readers in the visceral horror and transcendent resilience of a city that refused to die. The harrowing details—starving citizens eating wallpaper paste, crematorium workers numbing their trauma with vodka—are rendered with such unflinching clarity that I had to pause multiple times to steady my breathing. Yet McKay’s genius lies in balancing these horrors with luminous moments of defiance: the symphony performances amid bombings, the librarians guarding precious manuscripts under artillery fire. These passages hum with a life force that transcends despair.
The book’s structural brilliance shines in its interweaving of the siege narrative with Saint Petersburg’s broader history, from Peter the Great’s imperial dreams to Putin’s political theater. McKay’s analysis of how the city’s identity morphed through revolutions and renaming (Petrograd → Leningrad → Saint Petersburg) is particularly revelatory. If I had one critique, it’s that the pre-20th-century sections occasionally feel abbreviated compared to the siege’s granular detail—though this is a minor quibble in a work of such scope.
By the final page, I felt haunted by the paradox McKay so elegantly captures: that a city synonymous with tsarist opulence became, for 900 days, the ultimate testament to democratic courage.
Takeaway impressions of this book:
-A symphony of suffering and survival—McKay’s prose echoes Shostakovich in its devastating power.
-For fans of The Diary of Anne Frank and Bloodlands—this is WWII history at its most human and harrowing.
-The siege of Leningrad has never been rendered with such raw intimacy. A book that scars the soul.
-McKay proves cities aren’t just built of stone—they’re forged in collective will. A masterpiece of urban biography.
-Warning: You’ll emerge from this book forever changed. Saint Petersburg’s ghosts will walk with you.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for the advance copy. Saint Petersburg isn’t just history—it’s a monument to the indomitable human spirit, etched in McKay’s unforgettable prose.
Rating: 5/5
Sinclair McKay’s Saint Petersburg is a masterwork of historical storytelling—a book that left me emotionally gutted yet profoundly inspired. McKay doesn’t just recount the Siege of Leningrad; he immerses readers in the visceral horror and transcendent resilience of a city that refused to die. The harrowing details—starving citizens eating wallpaper paste, crematorium workers numbing their trauma with vodka—are rendered with such unflinching clarity that I had to pause multiple times to steady my breathing. Yet McKay’s genius lies in balancing these horrors with luminous moments of defiance: the symphony performances amid bombings, the librarians guarding precious manuscripts under artillery fire. These passages hum with a life force that transcends despair.
The book’s structural brilliance shines in its interweaving of the siege narrative with Saint Petersburg’s broader history, from Peter the Great’s imperial dreams to Putin’s political theater. McKay’s analysis of how the city’s identity morphed through revolutions and renaming (Petrograd → Leningrad → Saint Petersburg) is particularly revelatory. If I had one critique, it’s that the pre-20th-century sections occasionally feel abbreviated compared to the siege’s granular detail—though this is a minor quibble in a work of such scope.
By the final page, I felt haunted by the paradox McKay so elegantly captures: that a city synonymous with tsarist opulence became, for 900 days, the ultimate testament to democratic courage.
Takeaway impressions of this book:
-A symphony of suffering and survival—McKay’s prose echoes Shostakovich in its devastating power.
-For fans of The Diary of Anne Frank and Bloodlands—this is WWII history at its most human and harrowing.
-The siege of Leningrad has never been rendered with such raw intimacy. A book that scars the soul.
-McKay proves cities aren’t just built of stone—they’re forged in collective will. A masterpiece of urban biography.
-Warning: You’ll emerge from this book forever changed. Saint Petersburg’s ghosts will walk with you.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for the advance copy. Saint Petersburg isn’t just history—it’s a monument to the indomitable human spirit, etched in McKay’s unforgettable prose.
February 24, 2026
Yura is 16, in the summer of 1940 he’s looking forward to life, enthusiastic about studying and a keen member of the young soviets pioneer group. Six months later he’s walking with a stick, so weak he can’t walk down the stairs to get on the transport which would have taken him, with his mum and sister, across ‘ the road of life’, a road formed by the Russian military across the icy lake Lagoda that may have saved him. Instead, he died alone, in a frozen apartment in a starving city. This book isn’t for the faint hearted, the author details the privations and inhumanity of operation Barbarossa for the people of Leningrad. To read this is to begin to understand the Russian people; their absolute steely determination and preternatural ability to withstand what can only be described as hell. However, for me, it is hard to make sense of why Putin would inflict similar on the people of Ukraine when the consequences of Barossa were so close to home for him, he too lost an older brother to starvation during that time.
April 30, 2026
I found this endlessly fascinating. My only quibble was that the first few chapters, which tell the story of Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad preWWII, are not told chronologically. The rest of the story largely is and
those first few chapters would have lended themselves to a chronological recount.
those first few chapters would have lended themselves to a chronological recount.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews