Four Steps to Death
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 The cover of Four Steps to Death | |
| Author | John Wilson |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Céleste Gagnon |
| Language | English |
| Subject | The Battle of Stalingrad |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Kids Can Press |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Pages | 207 pp |
| ISBN | 1-55337-704-4 (bound); 1-55337-705-2 (pbk.) |
| OCLC | 57208827 |
Four Steps to Death is a 2005 historical novel by John Wilson. It is about the horrors and tragedies of the Battle of Stalingrad. The plot revolves around the lives of various characters involved in the battle on both sides of the conflict and shows how horrible war can be.
The title is derived from a line of the Soviet song "Zemlyanka": "And here there are four steps to death."
In this novel by John Wilson set during the Battle of Stalingrad, three participants — two soldiers and a boy — are caught in its horrors. Their story is told over seven days of fierce and deadly street-by-street fighting. Vasily is a patriotic Russian soldier determined to rid his country of the hated Nazi invaders — if he can stay alive long enough. Conrad is a German tank officer, part of the seemingly unstoppable force sweeping eastward over the steppe, expecting a quick victory over Stalin's ill-trained and badly equipped Red Army.
Between them is eight-year-old Sergei, whose home is the maze of rubble that used to be the city of Stalingrad. None of them can know that their fates will be intertwined as the cataclysm engulfs them.
In the middle of the conflict is eight-year-old Sergei who lives in the cellar of his former apartment, scavenging among the ruins of his hometown while the Germans and Russians wage war on one another. Thousands of bodies litter the streets, and yet, Sergei is not bothered by any of this, being hardened by the horrors that he faces every day. He dreams of being a famous sniper one day and ridding his homeland of the "Fascists".
