Book description
This vivid, moving and provocative novel presents a story of a whole
society caught up in national turmoil. Told through the experiences of
one family, the Shubins, and their city of Leningrad, their story of
love and heartbreak is universal. Starting with Hitler's invasion of the
Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the novel moves both back and forward in
time, following three generations of the Shubins as they face the
horrors of war, political upheaval, imprisonment and famine. Their
experiences are harsh, but their spirit remains undaunted and their
family ties unbreakable. The legacy of hardship never quite relaxes its
grip, but what endures is their humanity. Natasha Templeton s Russian
family came to New Zealand in 1951 after years as post-war  displaced
persons . In a Bavarian camp she received an intensive Russian
education before attending Wellington East Girl s College and Victoria
University, where she studied modern languages and English Literature.
She started work in the War Histories Section of Internal Affairs but
her love for the theatre had led her to the varsity drama club and on to
Unity Theatre and Radio Drama productions. In 1957-59 she studied at the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and worked in repertory at
Croydon. On return to Wellington, she married Hugh Templeton, Rhodes
Scholar and diplomat, and they served overseas: first in Samoa and then
in New York, where Natasha took an MA degree in Russian Literature at
Columbia University. Back in New Zealand, while raising her two
children, Natasha worked as a teacher, book reviewer and lecturer on
Russian literature. She also wrote short stories. In 1980s she began
research on a wartime trilogy of which two novels have appeared,
Firebird and Winter in the Summer Garden.
