The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore

This book had me captivated from almost the first page. It tells the story of Andrei, a skilled pediatrician, and his wife Anna, a nursery school teacher, who are living in Leningrad during some (at first) unspecified point during Stalin's rule--a time when World War II and the deprivations everyone faced in Leningrad are still high in many people's memories. Andrei gets called into to consult on the case of the son of a Party leader. The son has an aggressive cancer, and when his treatment doesn't go well, Andrei and Anna must negotiate their survival in a society where they cannot trust their neighbors or their colleagues. Dunmore's elegantly written book probed themes of paranoia, survival in a state of terror, love, family, betrayal, friendship, and loyalty. I probably would not have picked up this book based on its description, but I think it overcomes its description to offer a compassionate portrayal of the possibility of ordinary people to survive and even shine in their humanity even during the most difficult historical epochs.