The Madonnas of Leningrad, (Paperback)

from AramisSciant

Beautiful debut novel about art and love and the painful journey that is Alzheimer's disease. The transitions from the present to the past were very skillfully handled, almost as if you could follow Marina's mind slipping from our reality to her own memories of the siege of Leningrad. As for the ...

from cameling

Debra Dean takes us on a journey in the mind of a woman who's living with rapidly deteriorating Alzheimer's. She can't remember the present, can't recognize her daughter anymore, and doesn't even realize how reliant she is on her husband now for everything. However, her memories of the past are s...

from Hanneri

The paintings in the Hermitage were evacuated shortly before the Siege of Leningrad. Marina commits them to memory (her "Memory Palace") to sustain her spirit over that three year period. This is how Dean brings these paintings to life for the reader. You will not want to read this book without s...

from bookappeal

A beautifully constructed tale of an elderly woman with Alzheimer's who remembers her past much more clearly than her present. Marina is attending a family wedding but she rarely recognizes her own daughter, much less the young couple of honor. Marina's present slips easily into the past, when sh...

from TigsW

A wonderful novel, simultaneously searing, heartbreaking and yet uplifting. The character development is excellent; they are multidimensional yet not overworked. The descriptions of the paintings as viewed from the main character's "palace of dreams" are overwhelmingly beautiful and compelling.