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City of Thieves (novel)City of Thieves is a 2008 historical fiction novel by David Benioff. It is, in part, a coming of age story set in the World War II siege of Leningrad. It follows the adventures of two youths as they desperately search for a dozen eggs at the behest of a Soviet NKVD officer, a task which takes them far behind enemy lines.

Plot
The novel begins with David as the narrator. He is an American who describes himself as growing up knowing that his grandfather killed two Germans in a knife fight before he was 18, even though he was never actually told the story. As a child David lived two blocks away from his grandparents, who owned an insurance company. In the late 1990s, an insurance conglomerate offered to purchase the company, and David's grandmother asked them to double their offer. Eventually the conglomerate agreed and David's grandparents retired to Florida. David lives in Los Angeles writing screenplays, but when he was asked to write an autobiographical essay, he decided he wanted to write instead about Leningrad, where his grandfather grew up. He flies to Florida to speak with his grandfather, and for a week David records his grandfather's stories.

The narrator changes to Lev (David's grandfather) and it's New Year's Eve in 1942 in Leningrad, Russia during World War II. Everyone's been hungry since the German siege of the city began in September, although many, including Lev's mother and sister Taisya, have evacuated. Lev, at 17, is a firefighter for the city, and sits on the roof of his apartment building with his friends Vera, Grisha, and Oleg. Vera spots a German soldier falling from the sky in a parachute and the four run down into the street to investigate. When the German lands in the street, Lev takes the man's knife while Grisha opens the man's hip flask and passes it around, toasting the cold that killed this soldier. Suddenly they hear a car coming and run, because what they�re doing is illegal. As they race back to the apartment building, Vera falls. Lev goes back to help her and boosts her over the gate, but the Russian soldiers out on patrol grab Lev before he can climb over himself. The soldiers take him to the Crosses, the prison in Leningrad.

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After hours in his pitch dark prison cell, Lev has come to the grim conclusion that he'll never be a great Russian, since he feels half-broken after just his short time in prison. He hears guards coming, the cell door opens, and a young soldier is ushered into the cell. When they are alone, the young man introduces himself as Kolya. Kolya was accused of desertion, but tells Lev that in fact he was defending his thesis on Ushakovo's The Courtyard Hound, a book and author that Lev has never heard of.

The next morning, Lev and Kolya are taken to a mansion where the NKVD � the Russian secret police � are stationed. There, Colonel Grechko tasks them with finding a dozen eggs to make a cake for the Colonel�s daughter's wedding the following Friday. He confiscates Lev and Kolya's ration cards and sends them off with a letter saying they shouldn't be stopped or harassed.

Lev and Kolya decide that the Haymarket, which is entirely black market, is the place to start. As they walk there, Kolya teases Lev about being a virgin and begins to explain his theory of �calculated neglect

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