Books, Boots and Bakeries

There is something about Russian stories. They speak to my soul. I do not know why or how Russia has snuck into my psyche. I have never been. I was planning to though. I even wrote about Six Days in Leningrad and made a mega list for Moscow and St Petersburg. Then life rolled on. Covid. Ukraine happened. That trip never left my notebook.

Recently I went back to my old loved spilled on stained copy of The Bronze Horseman. The spine is soft the pages are a bit wavy and it smells like tea and winter. Every mark is a breadcrumb to a past read. I knew the big moments were coming and still they hit like new. That is the magic of this book. It keeps finding you where you are and pulling you back to the Neva. Aside from my Grandma’s Mills and Boon it was my first foray into historical romance and it set the bar high. It is the one epic saga I wish could be made into a TV show or a movie.

Set in Leningrad at the start of World War Two, this is Tatiana and Alexander’s story. Summer heat. A city on the cusp. Rations and queues. The first sirens. Then the siege. It is romance and survival and a crash course in courage. Tatiana is seventeen and stubborn with a heart that will not quit. Alexander is all steel and secrets. Together they are a fire you can feel through the page.

What gets me every time is the way Simons makes the city a character. Streets and courtyards feel lived in. Kitchens smell like black bread and tea. Winter is a wall you have to push through. The details are not there to be clever. They are there to show what love looks like when everything else is stripped back. A shared potato. A hidden loaf. A coat shrugged over cold shoulders. It is simple and it is epic.

Reading this again reminded me why Six Days in Leningrad captured me too. That book sent me hunting for real places. The Bronze Horseman gave me the heart map. It made me want to stand on the Neva and squint at the light. To trace a finger along a stair rail and imagine who ran down it in 1941. To find a quiet bench and listen for footsteps that are not there anymore.

The characters hold up. Tatiana is my girl. She is brave without show. She says yes to life when no would be easier. Alexander is the classic problem for me. I like my leading men morally grey. He is tender and reckless and at times I want to shake him. That tension works. It keeps the pages turning well past midnight.

Is it perfect. No. It is big and a little messy with feelings that could fill the Gulf of Finland. That is part of the charm. The stakes are real. People starve. People choose. People pay. When hope shows up it is not cute. It is hungry and stubborn and it fights for a seat at the table.

If you are new to Simons I would start here before dipping into Six Days in Leningrad. Read the novel first so the travel notes land with more weight. If you have already read it, this is your sign to reread. Clear an afternoon. Make a strong pot of tea. Let the book take you back to the avenues and the river and the kitchen with the single chair.

Will I ever make that so long planned for trip? I have no idea. The world is what it is. Plans bend. But books like The Bronze Horseman keep the door open in my head. They give me a way to visit when flights fall through and borders feel far away. The Bronze Horseman is not just a love story. It is a why story. Why we hold on. Why we keep walking. Why a city and two people who don’t even exist can live rent free in my heart for years.