Called "Elegantly, Starkly Beautiful" By the New York times book review, The Siege is Helen Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental -- the nazis' 1941 winter siege on leningrad that killed six hundred thousand --...Called "Elegantly, Starkly Beautiful" By the New York times book review, The Siege is Helen Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental -- the nazis' 1941 winter siege on leningrad that killed six hundred thousand -- but her focus is heartrendingly intimate.