Blockade Diary: Under Siege in Leningrad, 1941-1942

What happens when ordinary life is erased overnight?

In September 1941, as German forces closed in on Leningrad, thirty-four-year-old Elena Kochina was a teacher, wife, and mother living a comfortable life in one of the Soviet Union's great cultural centers. Within weeks, that world had vanished. Food disappeared, winter descended, and survival became a daily struggle.

Written as events unfolded, Blockade Diary is a remarkable firsthand account of the Siege of Leningrad, one of the longest an...