THE HUNGER BETWEEN US

A first-person fictional account of starvation during the siege of Leningrad.

Seventeen-year-old Liza buries her mother in secret so that she can still use her ration cards. Not that it matters much: Nearly a year after fascists surrounded the city, there’s simply no food to be had—the daily allotment is 125 grams of bread, much of that made of sawdust. Liza’s best friend, Aka, tells her about the Mansion, a place where the secret police give girls food in exchange for sexual favors. When Aka goes missing, Liza searches for her and for the Mansion, where she’s sure she will find her. Along the way, she encounters two young men she knew before the war— Maksim, a member of the secret police, and Luka, a musician who lives in the tunnels beneath the city that are rumored to be inhabited by bands of cannibals. Liza’s an unrepentant thief, desperate to survive, but there are lines she won’t cross—or are there? Scott’s Vilnius childhood behind the Iron Curtain adds authenticity to this story; the unrelenting misery and stomach-churning denouement make it an emotionally difficult read. The setting is fully depicted, but the characters never quite come to life, especially Luka and Maksim, who seem more or less interchangeable, and Aka’s father, who is a cardboard villain.

A vivid setting and nail-biting events are let down by characterization that lacks heart.