And that is another book for the month of January.

Lyudmila covers a lot of ground in these memoirs. Her apparent destiny to be a sharpshooter and innocence before the beginning of WW2. The destitute conditions of the Red army and her fallen comrades. The depravity of the Nazis on everyday people. Thrilling sniper duels and trophies. Brushes with death and almost mystical survival. The devotion of citizens, sacrificing what little they had to better care for the soldiers. Falling in love and having to see her lover pass on the battlefield. Her travels to other countries and meeting figures like CHARLIE CHAPLIN, Eleanore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, and also her disappointments. A fatherly reconciliation with Joseph Stalin.

It all brings a welcome new perspective to the saturated arena of WW2 lit, and shouldn't be overlooked.