Ο Αχός Της Εποχής

May 1937. A man in his thirties waits beside the elevator in an apartment building in Leningrad. He waits through the night, expecting that at any moment he may be taken to the headquarters of the State Security Service. None of the famous people he met during the previous decade can now be of any help to him. And very few of those taken to headquarters ever return.

This is the starting point of Julian Barnes’s masterful novel, a story about the conflict between life and art, courage and cowardice, and the pain of inevitable compromise. The book explores the life and work of Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as his confrontation with the Stalinist regime.

Selected by Booktique for Lipshop as part of a collaboration that brings together literature, design, and life’s simple pleasures. A distinctive title from a thoughtfully curated collection created for those who love discovering stories with character and depth.