The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad

A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City Under Siege

Simon Parkin

Having read it

★★★☆☆

A well researched and reasonably written tale but one I felt stretched a little too far over too many pages to make it a compelling read.

Still, despite my skipping and skimming it did show that the efforts made by Nikolai Vavilov and his (decent) colleagues at the Plant Institute during the siege of Leningrad in the Second World War (and even after it) were amazing and life-affirming in what they did and endured.

A good passage

The Plant Institute stood as a reminder that the past is not dead, but persists in living things, waiting to be unlocked and explored by those with the curiosity and will to do so. The building was a Noah’s Ark of plant matter, a catalogue of the past and a hope for the future, an insurance policy against humanity’s indifference and negligence.