Novel is set in the amazing, horrific siege of Leningrad in World War II. Father, daughter and much younger son (mother died in childbirth so son effectively is being raised by the daughter) try to survive through the siege (with a focus on the awful first winter); as that winter grinds on, they are joined in their flat by an aging, out-of-favor actress and a young doctor.The story of the siege is told in detail in The 900 Days, a very wonderful book that is discussed here.
I'd strongly recommend reading The 900 Days, and it would be OK to skip this little volume.
Not that it's awful - at worst, it's an accessible way to get a feeling for the situation. A somewhat more personal interpretation of how it might have felt on starvation rations in those freezing Leningrad apartments. But that aspect also comes through pretty clearly in The 900 Days, accompanied by a description of the wider context that makes the individual survival stories even more compelling.
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