Marina

Marina is the book's central character and protagonist. Her actions and experiences define both the action and its thematic implications in two of the story's three narrative lines. These are referred to in the synopsis as The Past (approximately 1940 to 1945), when she was a young woman living in the then Soviet Union, and The Present (i.e., today), when she is in her early eighties. In both these narrative lines, she struggles to meet the challenges of difficult circumstances - in the past, the privations and suffering imposed as the result of the Nazi Siege of Leningrad ... in the present the confusions, frustrations and fears arising as the result of being stricken with Alzheimer's disease. Also in both timelines, Marina takes refuge in her knowledge and enjoyment of art, finding solace and comfort both remembering and contemplating the works she showed visitors when she worked as an interpretive...