The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad

Name: The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad
Brand: Hodder & Stoughton
Price: 44.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege

Author: Simon Parkin

Read by: Elliot Fitzpatrick

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At a Glance

Format
Digital Audiobook

Duration
10:00.00

Available: 17th October 2024

Digital Audiobook

$44.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $11.25 with

Available: 17th October 2024

Preorder. Download available after release.

From the winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize comes a fascinating and moving untold story of the Leningrad scientists who risked everything for the future of humanity

In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad - now St Petersburg - and began the longest blockade in recorded history. By the most conservative estimates, the siege would claim the lives of three-quarters of a million people. Most died of starvation.

At the centre of the embattled city stood a converted palace that housed the greatest living plant library ever amassed - the world's first seed bank. After attempts to evacuate the collection failed, and as supplies dwindled, the scientists responsible faced a terrible decision: should they distribute the specimens to the starving population, or preserve them in the hope that they held the key to ending global famine?

Drawing on previously unseen sources, The Forbidden Garden tells the remarkable and moving story of the botanists who remained at the Plant Institute during the darkest days of the siege, risking their lives in the name of science.