The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

I am in a rut, trying to find books on Russia, St. Petersberg and such. But I can't help myself. I won't say I was disappointed in this book, but it was not all I had hoped it would be. The part that was most interesting to me was the descriptions of the different rooms in the Hermitage Museum. The book flashes back and forth between present and past. Marina, the now Alzheimer-inflicted "babushka" in the story, was a guide in the Hermitage State Museum prior to WWII. When the war breaks out and St. Petersbert (Leningrad) is under seige, she stays in the museum packing up the treasures. She and her fellow guide try to memorize each and every room, even after the treasures are gone.
As an adult living in the United States, Marina shares nothing of her past with her children, so their confusion about HER confusion was a bit convoluted for me. They didn't understand when she would go into verbal litanies that were her way to remember and return to Leningrad in 1941.  I didn't buy that part of the story. You would think that her children would have pressed her in their youth to describe her past.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it anyone interested in art, Russia or the seige of Leningrad.