The book triumphantly reclaims Helen from some of her traducers. Hughes' portrait is as close to a real, living Helen as we are likely to get

This book is a real tour de force. It combines astonishing erudition and knowledge of the early classical world with a wonderful easy fluency of writing

Evoking in sensuous and gorgeous prose the citadels, the palaces and the luxuries of that long-vanished world... A passionate book

Fantastic... I have never, ever, read anybody write so well about travels in Greece and going to explore archaeological sites

A genuinely exciting historial narrative

Passionate and eccentric

A Mountain of Crumbs is an extraordinary memoir. Elena Gorokhova's writing - gorgeous and evocative - is enriched by her connection to two languages, Russian and English. Brilliant and moving

This is a diamond of a memoir. Elena Gorokhova captures the essence of a vanished world with a poet's eye, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey, where every detail transcends the commonplace and every page bears witness to the deepest longings of the human heart. This memoir offers a rare glimpse of life in the former Soviet Union, and also of the universal search for love and autonomy that binds us all together, regardless of time and place

Almost painful in its authenticity, this hypnotically readable memoir has the sweep and power of a great Russian novel

Elena Gorokhova doesn't use broad strokes to paint a picture of daily life in Brezhnev-era Soviet Union. Vivid memories, such as licking fresh raspberry jam out of a wooden bowl as her mother prepares food for the winter months, or the familiar, comforting scent of her father - tobacco and brown soap - brightly dot the harsh, gray background of everyday life in Gorokhova's native Leningrad. As Western culture peeks through cracks in the Iron Curtain in the 1960s and '70s, Gorokhova is determined to see what's on the other side and have new experiences, like eating "something called a shrimp." Her spare lyricism delicately captures a vanished world

A smart, spirited tale about growing up in the colorless Soviet Union

This moving memoir made me cry

Rich with honesty and insight . . . a stunning memoir: subtle, yet brimming with depth and detail. It leaves you wanting more

A Mountain of Crumbs is written above all with an almost painful tenderness that brought a lump to my throat more than once ... Gorokhova's memoir looks back with love at the lost world of the dacha, of mushroom-picking in the forest, and the utterly reassuring homeland contained within her mother's apple-print polyester dress. Her prose brims with an elegiac emotion and sensuality which even Turgenev, in his own European exile, might have envied

Combining Gorokhova's fantastic eye for an image with her acute sense for the absurd, A Mountain of Crumbs: growing Up Behind The Iron Curtain elegantly dramatises the bewildering chasm between the projected, glittering idealism of the Soviet Union and its drab, quotidian reality

An exquisitely moving memoir detailing Gorokhova's experiences of growing up behind the Iron Curtain. Her story of oppression and hope is described in distinctive poetical prose

Despite the specificity of the memoir, the themes and characters have universality - a domineering mother, a rebellious child, finding passion and beauty in the surprising places. A celebration of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and oppression

In this gently delightful memoir, Elena Gorokhova recounts her coming of age in Russia during 1960s and 1970s ... There's a wonderful cosy intimacy to her writing; her use of the present tense keeps it fresh and unburdened ... I loved reading A Mountain of Crumbs. Gorokhova is a fine writer with a delicate, sensitive touch, whose voice in nonetheless fearless and clarion. I hope there's a sequel. After coming of age comes surely that other great memoir, coming to America

Her richly detailed story explores the reality of her politically subversive passions for language and freedom in a fearful, failing society that distrusted its citizens and repressed individuality

It takes talent to write a good memoir and Gorokhova has more than most. Fascinating anecdotes show us her mother's youth, and her own recollections spring to life with an artist's eye for those details that can conjure a mood or a moment. The privations, oppressions and joys are all described with shining curiosity in this captivating book

Gorokhova's beautiful understated portrait of her childhood ... her evocation of her formidable mother - who asks Stalin personally for funds for a maternity ward, and gets them - is among the memorable gems of her deceptively masterful tale

Carries lightly a depth of research that gives alarming edge to Wheeler's engrossing

It is a testament to the author's ability that the text never lurches into despondency- above all, this is a book that celebrates the inspiring endurance and colourful past of those who populate the area

In its many-layered discoveries, the book is truly magnetic