Life and Fate - **AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4**

Life and Fate is an epic tale of twentieth-century Russia told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stalingrad.

As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman''s characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war.

Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece.

''One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century'' Daily Telegraph

''Compelling... Grossman''s portrait is timelessly relevant... Life and Fate is worth all the audience it can find'' The Times