After Silence
Leningrad 1941. German forces surround the city at the start of the most harrowing winter in its history. The siege becomes a battle for survival. Bodies fill the streets and the crushing horror of cold starvation and bone-deep fear is relentless.
Set against this background of tragedy and suffering a remarkable group of musicians – soldiers and civilians all of whom have been wasted by war and hunger – come together to perform Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. They scarcely have the strength to carry their instruments but their performance of this haunting and defiant new piece provides a rare light of hope in the darkness. Friendship love and a vibrant passion for music combine in this ambitious absorbing and richly sensuous masterpiece.
Jessica Gregson
Jessica was born in London in 1978. She is now a humanitarian education specialist and a writer, with occasional forays into other careers. Her first novel, The Angel Makers, was published in 2007 and has since sold to nine international markets. Her second novel, The Ice Cream Army, was published in 2009. She has lived and worked in a variety of places, including South Sudan, Myanmar and Azerbaijan, and currently divides her time between Glasgow and everywhere else.
