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• More titles by Professor Orlando Figes

Synopsis

Drawing on a huge range of sources - letters, memoirs, conversations - Orlando Figes tells the story of how Russians tried to endure life under Stalin. Those who shaped the political system became, very frequently, its victims. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless. The Whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which Russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or, perversely, later save it: a society in which everyone spoke in whispers - whether to protect themselves, their families, neighbours or friends - or to inform on them.

Reviews

Critic Review:

‘One of the most unforgettable books I have ever read’  Simon Sebag Montefiore, Mail on Sunday

‘Wonderful’  Claire Tomalin

‘My book of the year’  Andrew Marr, Observer, Books of the Year

‘The most haunting history I have read in years’  Ruth Scurr, The Times, Books of the Year

‘Amazing … a collective testimony in which you can hear voices through a doorway open at last’  Alexander Cockburn, Sunday Times

‘Heart-rending’  Antony Beevor, The Times

‘Here is history that goes beyond explorations of great events, investigating the inner lives of those Soviet millions forced to whisper … saves myriad voices from oblivion’  Helen Simpson, Guardian, Books of the Year

‘Groundbreaking and intensely moving’  Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times, Books of the Year

‘A study of ordinary families under extraordinary conditions … unforgettable’  Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year

‘The best book I read this year’  Marina Lewycka, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year

‘Gripping … Figes’s book is the first truly to open the door into the private, inner lives of the Russian people during Stalin’s rule … his brilliant account of this terrifying social experiment brings us close to the heart of the Soviet utopia, a time when to be oneself was all but impossible, even behind closed doors’  Marc Lambert, Scotsman

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