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After Silence
Leningrad, 1941. German forces surround the city at the start of the most harrowing winter in its history. The siege becomes a battle for survival. Bodies fill the streets, and the crushing horror of cold, starvation and bone-deep fear is relentless.
Set against this background of tragedy and suffering, a remarkable group of musicians — soldiers and civilians, all of whom have been wasted by war and hunger — come together to perform Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. They scarcely have the strength to carry their instruments, but their performance of this haunting and defiant new piece provides a rare light of hope in the darkness. Friendship, love and a vibrant passion for music combine in this ambitious, absorbing and richly sensuous masterpiece.
Set against this background of tragedy and suffering, a remarkable group of musicians — soldiers and civilians, all of whom have been wasted by war and hunger — come together to perform Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. They scarcely have the strength to carry their instruments, but their performance of this haunting and defiant new piece provides a rare light of hope in the darkness. Friendship, love and a vibrant passion for music combine in this ambitious, absorbing and richly sensuous masterpiece.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
507 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 9, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
September 30, 2022
It seems I've read a bazillion WWII historical fiction books, but never had I ever heard about the siege of Leningrad by Hitler's troops at the start of WWII. German troops surrounded the City of Leningrad, destroyed their railways, and for 900 days essentially bombed the city with artillery and waited for the population to starve to death. This book is an intimate exploration of a few characters affected during the siege. It focuses in great detail on the depth of the characters themselves--their history and experiences--and tells the story through their perspective, rather than focusing on the events and how the characters reacted and dealt with their external circumstances. It is not a quick read, and at times I had to push myself to keep reading, but overall it is an extremely compelling and well written novel that fantastically portrays love, loss, survival, and how much music can be a saving grace. Thanks to Deixis Press and NetGalley for this e-ARC!
November 8, 2022
Elegant, beautiful, well-crafted and so much heart. To describe the plot, what happens, the way the personal relationships play out, it might come over as sentimental or, God forbid, mawkish. That it doesn't is down to Gregson's gift for character. These people feel so real, yet somehow, where with other novels, you end them yearning to know what happened next, where these characters ended up, I didn't feel like that here. This is Gregson's other great gift - knowing exactly what the story is, and where and when to end it.
September 30, 2022
The first part of this book is an absolutely vivid, gripping portrait of a city and its people descending into the nightmare of war, the acute losses and drawn-out, grinding pain that follows. The people this is told through, though, emerge as such engaging characters that I delightedly read the rest of the book just to carry on getting to know them.
Perhaps I'm as bad at spotting hints as one of those main characters, but I didn't have much sense of where the plot was going; the thing about historical fiction is that the tension of the big events is gone. Will they get to play the symphony? I mean, mention the city and the year to anyone with an interest (and this happened with someone in my household) and you'll learn they did, so the story is about how; not even so much how as in the logistics, but how as in the experience, or what it could have been. On that basis, there was one major character in particular whose purpose I couldn't work out, much as I liked him, and instantly cast him as a local friend that I like the same way; even once he did get woven in, I'm not sure what that added to the bigger story.
I read this while recovering from COVID, so everyone being weak and exhausted all the time felt quite natural. And one thing I know is true, when you're rationing energy, is that where you put that energy is telling. What do you choose to think about, but what can't you escape thinking about? What do you waste energy on without wanting to, and what pays back the energy you put into it with emotional and spiritual rewards, so outside the mere accounting of these things they're definitively worth it? I don't think this book is about the music, as such, but it's about all the characters' relationships with what pays them back enough to bear everything else, whether that's taking care of others, making connections, finding ways around the system or finding love. For at least half of these characters, and for enough of the city as a whole, at some level, that is music... and that's how we get the symphony. As a story of what people care enough to make when they've got so little to do it with, this is great.
Perhaps I'm as bad at spotting hints as one of those main characters, but I didn't have much sense of where the plot was going; the thing about historical fiction is that the tension of the big events is gone. Will they get to play the symphony? I mean, mention the city and the year to anyone with an interest (and this happened with someone in my household) and you'll learn they did, so the story is about how; not even so much how as in the logistics, but how as in the experience, or what it could have been. On that basis, there was one major character in particular whose purpose I couldn't work out, much as I liked him, and instantly cast him as a local friend that I like the same way; even once he did get woven in, I'm not sure what that added to the bigger story.
I read this while recovering from COVID, so everyone being weak and exhausted all the time felt quite natural. And one thing I know is true, when you're rationing energy, is that where you put that energy is telling. What do you choose to think about, but what can't you escape thinking about? What do you waste energy on without wanting to, and what pays back the energy you put into it with emotional and spiritual rewards, so outside the mere accounting of these things they're definitively worth it? I don't think this book is about the music, as such, but it's about all the characters' relationships with what pays them back enough to bear everything else, whether that's taking care of others, making connections, finding ways around the system or finding love. For at least half of these characters, and for enough of the city as a whole, at some level, that is music... and that's how we get the symphony. As a story of what people care enough to make when they've got so little to do it with, this is great.
August 9, 2025
I really enjoyed this. Right from the beginning there is tension and tragedy, horror described in just enough detail to let the reader fill in their own terrible gaps. But this is a story of survival in spite of devastation. I enjoyed the weaving together of the diverse backgrounds of our central characters and the slow reveal of their back stories culminating in the performance of the symphony.
I listened to the music while reading when I could and I found this helped me to focus on what can feel like very dense writing.
I will certainly seek out more of Jessica Gregson’s work. I was surprised that this novel had so few reviews on the book platforms I frequent. An author that deserves to be more widely read.
I listened to the music while reading when I could and I found this helped me to focus on what can feel like very dense writing.
I will certainly seek out more of Jessica Gregson’s work. I was surprised that this novel had so few reviews on the book platforms I frequent. An author that deserves to be more widely read.
March 24, 2022
Compelling, immersive and exquisitely written, author Jessica Gregson brings Leningrad’s first performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 dazzlingly and devastatingly to life. After Silence is an exhilarating and profoundly moving novel, exploring the power of love, life and survival.
December 2, 2025
BX LInk: https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/...
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where: Leningrad
When: 1941-2
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
Thoughts/Reflections: I knew immediately that regardless of how dark or depressing this story turned out to be, the author was going to draw me in deep with the way she used words. And she did. What I love about this (new to me) author: her characters are real, and her story (at least this one) left me satisfied... I didn't need more. I will definitely be looking for other titles from her.
Like some of the readers before me, I chose to listen to the symphony that brings the characters together as I read the last few chapters of the book, and I’m glad I did… what beautiful music emerged from such a dark time. In the end for me this was a story of hope, at a time where hope is exactly what I need in many arenas of my life. I’m so glad it came my way when it did.
My favorite words:
“The thing Trofim hadn't expected about the army was the way that it provided a constantly shifting definition of worst.”
“Trofim thought of his trumpet, then, just for a moment, the sharp joy of building music from nothing, and the ease in playing that he'd never found in speaking.”
“The point is that things are never going to get better if people don't start remembering what they were before.”
“Katya should give it up, they all should; the extra rations couldn't be worth how much more energy they would waste in trying to scratch music out of silence. And yet there it was, that tingle in her fingertips and her palms, that looseness in her wrists. Her body wanted to play.”
“Reality was as different from what Katya had imagined as a drawing done with her eyes closed.”
“Put a group of children together and within a day they will have sorted themselves out from strongest to weakest, through a series of arcane rules that none of them could explain, but which most of them understand implicitly.”
“I suppose if nothing else comes out of this war, at least for a few moments we can say what we think.”
“It struck me that someone had gone to all that trouble to turn something functional into something beautiful, even though most people were probably going to overlook it.”
“There was something liberating about people expecting him to fail; it meant it didn't matter if he did.”
“Katya understood that what she envied most about Lidiya was not her beauty, but her ease of movement. Lidiya inhabited her body as if she felt she deserved to be in the world, while Katya's every movement was an apology. Lidiya offered her touch as a gift, while Katya assumed that hers was ‘I an intrusion.’”
“She had been shackled her whole life, and was only now starting to realise that she had donned the shackles herself, mistaking them for armour.”
“‘That's one of the things I like about you, Katya,’ he said at last. ‘You know when to say nothing. You know when there's nothing to say.’”
“The only thing worse than an unimaginable loss is realising that it's possible to go on, after all.”
“You need to stop turning something that happened to you into something you do. You need to stop tearing open everything good to look for the part that's going to hurt you.”
“You insist on thinking that this is important, this is what matters. That's bullshit. What the fuck does it matter if two countries line up their poor and stupid and violent young men and have them kill each other?”
“And the worst thing about losing someone is that when you try to imagine feeling better you don't want to, because that horrible, lost, cold, blind feeling is all you have left of them. But you can learn to hold onto them and to hold onto yourself at the same time.”
“‘The world is full of people stumbling about in the dark,’ Katya said. ‘Perhaps it makes sense that sometimes the right ones stumble into each other.’"
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where: Leningrad
When: 1941-2
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
Thoughts/Reflections: I knew immediately that regardless of how dark or depressing this story turned out to be, the author was going to draw me in deep with the way she used words. And she did. What I love about this (new to me) author: her characters are real, and her story (at least this one) left me satisfied... I didn't need more. I will definitely be looking for other titles from her.
Like some of the readers before me, I chose to listen to the symphony that brings the characters together as I read the last few chapters of the book, and I’m glad I did… what beautiful music emerged from such a dark time. In the end for me this was a story of hope, at a time where hope is exactly what I need in many arenas of my life. I’m so glad it came my way when it did.
My favorite words:
“The thing Trofim hadn't expected about the army was the way that it provided a constantly shifting definition of worst.”
“Trofim thought of his trumpet, then, just for a moment, the sharp joy of building music from nothing, and the ease in playing that he'd never found in speaking.”
“The point is that things are never going to get better if people don't start remembering what they were before.”
“Katya should give it up, they all should; the extra rations couldn't be worth how much more energy they would waste in trying to scratch music out of silence. And yet there it was, that tingle in her fingertips and her palms, that looseness in her wrists. Her body wanted to play.”
“Reality was as different from what Katya had imagined as a drawing done with her eyes closed.”
“Put a group of children together and within a day they will have sorted themselves out from strongest to weakest, through a series of arcane rules that none of them could explain, but which most of them understand implicitly.”
“I suppose if nothing else comes out of this war, at least for a few moments we can say what we think.”
“It struck me that someone had gone to all that trouble to turn something functional into something beautiful, even though most people were probably going to overlook it.”
“There was something liberating about people expecting him to fail; it meant it didn't matter if he did.”
“Katya understood that what she envied most about Lidiya was not her beauty, but her ease of movement. Lidiya inhabited her body as if she felt she deserved to be in the world, while Katya's every movement was an apology. Lidiya offered her touch as a gift, while Katya assumed that hers was ‘I an intrusion.’”
“She had been shackled her whole life, and was only now starting to realise that she had donned the shackles herself, mistaking them for armour.”
“‘That's one of the things I like about you, Katya,’ he said at last. ‘You know when to say nothing. You know when there's nothing to say.’”
“The only thing worse than an unimaginable loss is realising that it's possible to go on, after all.”
“You need to stop turning something that happened to you into something you do. You need to stop tearing open everything good to look for the part that's going to hurt you.”
“You insist on thinking that this is important, this is what matters. That's bullshit. What the fuck does it matter if two countries line up their poor and stupid and violent young men and have them kill each other?”
“And the worst thing about losing someone is that when you try to imagine feeling better you don't want to, because that horrible, lost, cold, blind feeling is all you have left of them. But you can learn to hold onto them and to hold onto yourself at the same time.”
“‘The world is full of people stumbling about in the dark,’ Katya said. ‘Perhaps it makes sense that sometimes the right ones stumble into each other.’"
April 30, 2022
One of my favorite genres is historical fiction, and one of my favorite composers is Dmitri Shostakovich, with his 7th Symphony being one of my favored pieces. That all gets combined into the wonderful novel After Silence, which tells the story of Leningrad during the siege in WW2, and of the various fictional characters who will eventually play the symphony in Leningrad as a measure of celebration of the city, and as an act of defiance to the Germans.
The horror of the siege - starvation, death, aerial bombardments - is brought home extraordinarily by the author. Her descritions at times are so vivid that I felt as if I were living through the terror. Yet the characters are resilient in their own way. We meet them not only during the siege, but also learn their background stories. My favorite was Dima, the young blind violinist who is a genius with his instrument. The end of the book is the performance of the 7th, and the beauty of the narrative is a pleasure to read.
My only quibble is that the book is a little too long. I felt that some sections could have been tightened up, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of After Silence.
My thanks to Deixis Press and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of After Silence.
The horror of the siege - starvation, death, aerial bombardments - is brought home extraordinarily by the author. Her descritions at times are so vivid that I felt as if I were living through the terror. Yet the characters are resilient in their own way. We meet them not only during the siege, but also learn their background stories. My favorite was Dima, the young blind violinist who is a genius with his instrument. The end of the book is the performance of the 7th, and the beauty of the narrative is a pleasure to read.
My only quibble is that the book is a little too long. I felt that some sections could have been tightened up, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of After Silence.
My thanks to Deixis Press and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of After Silence.
July 26, 2022
After Silence is a phenomenal story about hope and healing in absolutely dire circumstances, and about music bringing people together.
This is a story about human connection, about finding family in dire circumstances with people you wouldn't necessarily choose. Katya is struggling with the death of her children in the Lychkovo massacre. Trofim never quite fit in Army life, and now is on the front lines of the siege. Dima, like everyone else, is just trying trying to survive in a city with no food, that's being bombed, in winter. Six months into the siege, they all listen to the premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, which he dedicated to his home city of Leningrad. A few weeks later, they all join the orchestra that will be performing the Leningrad premiere in August.
This book is beautifully written; it reminds me of listening to Hilary Hahn play Bach – it feels effortless, so that all you notice is the story because there's never a wrong note, an extra word. I've played the violin for years, and everything about the music in the book (like why Katya would be sought out for chamber music, and why Dima longs to join an orchestra) felt like it came from someone with a musical background. I also appreciated how Dima's blindness was handled; it was refreshing to have disability portrayed as a different set of experiences, not something that makes a person a burden. Everyone felt so real I wanted to look up what they did after the war; since I can't, I choose to believe the main characters were all able to participate in the reunion concerts.
Thank you to Deixis Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for a honest review.
This is a story about human connection, about finding family in dire circumstances with people you wouldn't necessarily choose. Katya is struggling with the death of her children in the Lychkovo massacre. Trofim never quite fit in Army life, and now is on the front lines of the siege. Dima, like everyone else, is just trying trying to survive in a city with no food, that's being bombed, in winter. Six months into the siege, they all listen to the premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, which he dedicated to his home city of Leningrad. A few weeks later, they all join the orchestra that will be performing the Leningrad premiere in August.
This book is beautifully written; it reminds me of listening to Hilary Hahn play Bach – it feels effortless, so that all you notice is the story because there's never a wrong note, an extra word. I've played the violin for years, and everything about the music in the book (like why Katya would be sought out for chamber music, and why Dima longs to join an orchestra) felt like it came from someone with a musical background. I also appreciated how Dima's blindness was handled; it was refreshing to have disability portrayed as a different set of experiences, not something that makes a person a burden. Everyone felt so real I wanted to look up what they did after the war; since I can't, I choose to believe the main characters were all able to participate in the reunion concerts.
Thank you to Deixis Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for a honest review.
August 14, 2022
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After Silence
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This is an immersive and moving story set around the Siege of Leningrad during the second World War. Despite the harrowing circumstances it never wallows in depression. The characters have all suffered loss and starvation and their endurance and commitment to survival is frequently heartbreaking yet uplifting. Brought together by music that adds wonderful dimension to the story the diverse origins of each character are revealed in flashbacks. It is a very human story of mixed emotions and the four main characters, Lidiya, Katya, Dima and Trofim became very real and convincing. The atmosphere of the city under siege is vividly tense and dramatic yet the story is more about the people who inhabit the city, the detail of how they copy with scant rations and cold, the relationships between them, the ability to form alliances and even fall in love. There is some very emotive imagery, particularly the struggle that the musicians have just in lifting their instruments let alone the task of playing Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony which is the intended culmination of their efforts. I loved the story although at times it made me sad. Beautifully written it is very readable and worth taking time over.
Thank you to Deixis Press and Netgalley for an ARC.
After Silence
------
This is an immersive and moving story set around the Siege of Leningrad during the second World War. Despite the harrowing circumstances it never wallows in depression. The characters have all suffered loss and starvation and their endurance and commitment to survival is frequently heartbreaking yet uplifting. Brought together by music that adds wonderful dimension to the story the diverse origins of each character are revealed in flashbacks. It is a very human story of mixed emotions and the four main characters, Lidiya, Katya, Dima and Trofim became very real and convincing. The atmosphere of the city under siege is vividly tense and dramatic yet the story is more about the people who inhabit the city, the detail of how they copy with scant rations and cold, the relationships between them, the ability to form alliances and even fall in love. There is some very emotive imagery, particularly the struggle that the musicians have just in lifting their instruments let alone the task of playing Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony which is the intended culmination of their efforts. I loved the story although at times it made me sad. Beautifully written it is very readable and worth taking time over.
Thank you to Deixis Press and Netgalley for an ARC.
August 16, 2022
I have a new baby and thought it would take ages to read this book, as much as I was looking forward to it. As it turns out I greedily inhaled it down in any spare moment I could find.
It tells the story of several people linked together by the horrific Siege of Leningrad and an orchestra that comes together to play a symphony about the city. It is woven together as beautifully as the music at its core.
August 10, 2022
This is a wonderful novel which is strong in character, atmosphere and place.
For my full review please visit my blog at:
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For my full review please visit my blog at:
https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp...
August 2, 2022
After Silence is set predominantly during the siege of Leningrad by German forces in 1941/2. The book tells the tale of some of the (fictional) musicians who played in the first remarkable Leningrad performance of Shostakovich’s mighty seventh symphony in the August of 1942.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected. For a novel seemingly centred around classical music, I found the musical elements of the book the least convincing part of it. We spend surprisingly little time with the characters during rehearsals or the final concert and I didn’t feel like I got to know the symphony itself through this book. Reading the novel as a musician and brass player, I noticed a few minor inaccuracies and moments which didn’t quite ring true to me. None of this is necessarily a criticism, more a heads-up on what to expect.
As an historical novel, I found After Silence to be an incredibly visceral read which powerfully conveys the horrors of the siege of Leningrad. Many of the musicians who played in that performance were so malnourished through starvation that they struggled to lift their instruments. Meantime friends and family died around them. The author avoids the trap that so much historical fiction falls into – there are no “info dumps” to be found within these pages. Want the historical context for the events described in this book? Go research them elsewhere. Here, we follow the experiences of the characters themselves and see events from their eyes alone. It’s a refreshing approach.
A powerful read for those interested in history. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and Deixis Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected. For a novel seemingly centred around classical music, I found the musical elements of the book the least convincing part of it. We spend surprisingly little time with the characters during rehearsals or the final concert and I didn’t feel like I got to know the symphony itself through this book. Reading the novel as a musician and brass player, I noticed a few minor inaccuracies and moments which didn’t quite ring true to me. None of this is necessarily a criticism, more a heads-up on what to expect.
As an historical novel, I found After Silence to be an incredibly visceral read which powerfully conveys the horrors of the siege of Leningrad. Many of the musicians who played in that performance were so malnourished through starvation that they struggled to lift their instruments. Meantime friends and family died around them. The author avoids the trap that so much historical fiction falls into – there are no “info dumps” to be found within these pages. Want the historical context for the events described in this book? Go research them elsewhere. Here, we follow the experiences of the characters themselves and see events from their eyes alone. It’s a refreshing approach.
A powerful read for those interested in history. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and Deixis Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 6, 2026
I'm genuinely not sure where to start this review. Having just finished reading the last few pages, I have a feeling that this book might haunt me for a while. Set during the siege of Leningrad, a time and place that I knew very little of, this is a character fuelled story to the nth degree. This disparate set of people are brought together during the worse winter of the siege - no food, fighting grief and loss, scared of the constant air raids and of finding out that they cannot endure. In juxtaposition to this is the hope brought about by musicians coming together to play a symphony that would be heard country over - whichever side of the fight you're on. The author does a fantastic job of not only bringing these characters to life, but also the dying city in which they live. From the parks picked clean of greenery, to the trollies rattling through the broken streets, to the missing statues and the dingy air raid shelters ... the sense of place in this novel is something else. My only niggle is that I felt it didn't need the epilogue - finishing with Katya's thoughts after the concert would have been a much better end - the last page just muddies the idea of what the music brought to everyone.
But overall, I really did love this and will definitely be tracking down the author's books.
But overall, I really did love this and will definitely be tracking down the author's books.
September 18, 2022
There's more to like about this book than not. Although I wasn't sure right at the beginning, it picked up after the first few pages and largely held me, but then there was a point when I felt that it was stagnant--that nothing was happening and I wished she'd just get to the denouement and be done with it. Also I am not sure about that last chapter. But it offered a very timely look into a part of the world where people are likely experiencing similar horrors--of loss at many levels. And so I'll give it a 3, though there are parts for which I'd upgrade it to a 3.5.
There were times when pacing of the book felt off--like the switch from chapter to chapter or even from topics within a chapter felt jerky. It was only after reading the author's note at the end where she mentioned writing it in a very punctuated fashion, that I understood why. She wrote it that way.. it shows.
All that said, I couldn't help but compare it to another read a couple of months ago (A Train to Moscow) and in retrospect felt this one was better. Maybe because of the author's willingness to deal with some of the messier aspects of life and also because I liked her engagement with the transformative power of music. Both books ended up with the same ultimate rating, but I'd rank After Silence just a smidgen higher.
There were times when pacing of the book felt off--like the switch from chapter to chapter or even from topics within a chapter felt jerky. It was only after reading the author's note at the end where she mentioned writing it in a very punctuated fashion, that I understood why. She wrote it that way.. it shows.
All that said, I couldn't help but compare it to another read a couple of months ago (A Train to Moscow) and in retrospect felt this one was better. Maybe because of the author's willingness to deal with some of the messier aspects of life and also because I liked her engagement with the transformative power of music. Both books ended up with the same ultimate rating, but I'd rank After Silence just a smidgen higher.
January 12, 2026
I rarely rate a book with 5 stars. This book was amazing! The author's writing is exquisite! Set in Leningrad during the 1940s. The city is under siege, surrounded by Germans, and the people are starving in the depths of a hard winter. Despite terrible losses, the city put together an orchestra to play Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony. This, then, is the setting, but this book is about the people: Katya, who has lost her family, beautiful Lidiya whose determination holds together the people in her block, blind Dima with his passionate love of music, and his friend Vasya who keeps him alive, Trofim who doesn't fit in in the army, and popular Sasha who accepts people as they are but never gives away anything about himself, and they absolutely come to life in this exceptional book. The background of politics in Russia is skated over very lightly, but ever present.
November 8, 2022
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
An excellent historical account of the German WWII Siege of Leningrad and the heroic musicians who defiantly play the Symphony in spite of their besieged state. Well written and worth the read.
An excellent historical account of the German WWII Siege of Leningrad and the heroic musicians who defiantly play the Symphony in spite of their besieged state. Well written and worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews