JRL NEWSWATCH: “Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman – a sweeping tale of war and life; This immense prequel to ‘Life and Fate’ on the siege of Stalingrad finally gets its English translation” – Financial Times/ Tobias Grey

“… At nearly 1,000 pages Stalingrad is slightly longer than its sequel. … Grossman places an earlier focus on the Shaposhnikov family and friends … their lives … thrown into disarray by the impending Battle of Stalingrad. Hitler’s huge offensive on the Eastern Front has driven Soviet forces into a prolonged retreat. Stalingrad … on a clifftop by the Volga river[] is all that lies between the Nazis and the oil-rich Kazakh steppe. … The novel’s sweep … microscopic and panoramic. … begins in April 1942 as Mussolini’s train pulls into Salzburg … Hitler is waiting to discuss a major German offensive in southern Russia. It then switches to a Russian peasant, Pyotr Semyovich Vavilov, who has just received his call-up papers and is fretting about now not having enough time to leave his family with wood to last through the winter. …”

Click here for: “Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman – a sweeping tale of war and life; This immense prequel to ‘Life and Fate’ on the siege of Stalingrad finally gets its English translation” – Financial Times/ Tobias Grey