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• Synopsis
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• Product details
• Interview

• Biography
• 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, brilliantly conveying the reality of their terrible choices. Soviet history has generally been seen either as a story of a political system or the story of its victims.

The Whisperers is about Russians from across the whole range of experience 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.

This is Figes’s masterpiece. It is both a gripping and emotional account of lives lived in impossible times and a remarkable example of the power and value of writing history.

Reviews

Critic Review:

'monumental…a fine book that..surely ranks amongst the best'
Sunday Business Post

'the thoroughness of the research makes The Whisperers an impressive book'
Daily Mail

'superlative … fascinating and chilling'
thelondonpaper

'This is a very important book – authoritative, vivid, precise, and, in places, almost unbearably moving.'
Sunday Telegraph

'You really must read’ – ‘Masterful narrative'
The Sunday Times Culture

'The author of A People’s Tragedy and Natasha’s Dance has outdone himself'
Daily Telegraph

'a worthy tribute to the humanity of the victims of the Terror'
The Independent

'a tremendous achievement'
The Sunday Times

'Figes has become Britain’s foremost expert on Revolutionary Russia'
Daily Mail, Max Hastings

'its importance cannot be overestimated'
The Times, review by Antony Beevor

'Full of amazing stories that are bound to entrance and move the reader … Figes has constructed a monumental edifice with a literary architect’s skill.'
Autumn 07 issue – Waterstone’s Books Quarterly, review by Andrey Kurkov 

Interview

Interview with Professor Orlando Figes, author of The Whisperers

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