A01=Simon Parkin
Author_Simon Parkin
award-winning non-fiction
Category=NHTT
Category=NHWR7
Category=WNP
david grann
empire of pain
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
journalistic writing
killers of the flower moon
michael lewis
moneyball
patrick radden keefe
shocking untold stories
siege of leningrad
Stalingrad
surprising true stories
true accounts
true history accounts
true second world war stories
Product details
- ISBN 9781399714587
- Weight: 263g
- Dimensions: 128 x 196mm
- Publication Date: 14 Aug 2025
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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A FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2025
& THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2025
'An astonishing story brilliantly told . . . It is as moving as it is gripping to read'
Jonathan Dimbleby, author of Endgame 1944
'A richly researched and meticulously observed account of a little-explored corner of 20th-century history'
Guardian
'A fantastically well-researched history of science and sacrifice saturated in drama'
i
WINNER OF THE CBHL LITERATURE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN HISTORY
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 of Leningrad 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.
'A compelling account . . . a remarkable work of literary exhumation. The first full account of the Plant Institute in any language, it's a fitting testimony to an extraordinary project and the bravery of the ordinary individuals who kept it going'
Daily Telegraph
'A gripping, original and important story of courage and science in wartime'
Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan
& THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2025
'An astonishing story brilliantly told . . . It is as moving as it is gripping to read'
Jonathan Dimbleby, author of Endgame 1944
'A richly researched and meticulously observed account of a little-explored corner of 20th-century history'
Guardian
'A fantastically well-researched history of science and sacrifice saturated in drama'
i
WINNER OF THE CBHL LITERATURE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN HISTORY
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 of Leningrad 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.
'A compelling account . . . a remarkable work of literary exhumation. The first full account of the Plant Institute in any language, it's a fitting testimony to an extraordinary project and the bravery of the ordinary individuals who kept it going'
Daily Telegraph
'A gripping, original and important story of courage and science in wartime'
Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan
Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, Guardian and Observer, and is the author of A Game of Birds and Wolves, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, which won the Wingate Literary Prize, and The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize. His first book, Death by Video Game: Tales of obsession from the virtual frontline, was a New York Times Book Review 'Recommend Read' and his podcast, My Perfect Console, interviews with well-known guests about video games, has been picked as one of Time Out and Vulture's best podcasts. He lives in West Sussex.
