Ice Road, The (2004 Shortlisted For The Orange Prize For Fict

Description:
Irina Davydovna is a cleaner. She has no time for politics or even for that matter, people: 'rules and rulers may come and go, but dirt never changes.' Boris Aleksandrovich is a revolutionary. He thinks he understands power. But this is Leningrad in 1933 and Stalin is about to turn against their city. When the life of his beloved daughter Natasha is threatened and his old friend Anton saves a skinny little orphan he finds on a Moscow train, Boris' faith in his ideals are put to the test. While Irina, watching it all, must learn the power of loyalty and love. 'Powerful and moving, Ice Road is a novel whose epic scope never obscures the individual lives that are lived in the shadow of great events. I shall never forget Natasha and Kolya's love story ...or Irina, whose sturdy self respect and determination to survive, seems, at times, to speak for an entire people. Gillian Slovo excels in depicting complex human beings, full of passion, love, ambition, self- interest, who are caught up in their country's history and swept along by it.' Pat Barker

Review:
'Gillian Slovo's Ice Road is the finest account you will read of Stalin's terrors and the unimaginable horror of the siege of Leningrad' John Humphrey, Mail on Sunday 'Magnificent...To tell the story is something; but Slovo understands from inside the characters' own heads' Guardian 'I grew to love Slovo's powerful narrator, the redoubtable cleaning lady Irina Davydovna ... Slovo has produced a novel which is demanding, brave and bold ... Many writers have used the brutal effects of the Seige of Leningrad to explore courage, betrayal and survival, but Slovo adds something important.' - Charlie Lee-Potter, Observer 'This is a novel that explores the motivation and consequences of political events on ordinary lives ... Ice Road brilliantly depicts, from the emotional inside, the most politically disastrous assassination in Russian history, the murder of Kirov ... Slovo achieves a depth of psychological realism through the minds of victim and assassin ... Enthralling and persuasive are Irina and Anya, the cleaner and the orphan ... along with Natasha, a Russian tragic heroine and the fine portrayal of Leonid Nikolaev ...' - Rachel Holmes, Times 'This is a beautifully composed, expertly structured and wonderfully evocative masterpiece - Gillian Slovo's greatest achievement to date' Daily Mail 'Slovo describes the death of an ideal with a passion that makes her book moving and memorable' Sunday Telegraph 'Rings absolutely true... a moving and perceptive epic of utopia in darkness' Independent 'Without doubt one of the best offerings of the year, Ice Road is a solid work that awakes emotions. Slovo's characters are so well- defined and differentiated that you could be forgiven for forgetting that Ice Road is fiction.' Evening Herald (Ire)

Author Biography:
Born in South Africa, Gillian Slovo came with her family to Britain in 1964. She has written nine novels, one of which, Red Dust has been filmed with Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Her first play, Guantanamo, played in London's West End and off-Broadway in New York.