Six Degrees of Separation: From Redhead by the Side of the Road to One Hundred Years of Solitude

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

I missed last months Six Degrees which was a shame, but I am back this month with a list that contains at least one tenuous link! See if you can spot it.

The starting point this month is Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler, an author who I have  never read, although I am sure I should have! I did think about doing books with red in the title but I have a feeling I have done that before, if not in Six Degrees, definitely in a Top Ten Tuesday post, so I took a different direction.

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell (Trixie Belden mysteries book 1) - My first thought related to the word redhead and that kind of inevitably lead to me to think about my first red headed book crush - Jim from the Trixie Belden books!

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - Jim was not my only red headed literary crush. There was also James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser from the Outlander series. This book, the third in the main series, is probably my favourite. Maybe it is something about a variation of the name James, and not the redhead, but I don't think so.

The Red Scarf/Under a Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall - When I checked my handy dandy spreadsheet which list the books I have read since  2004, the author directly above Diana Gabaldon alphabetically is Kate Furnival. I kept on thinking about the red scarf as the link too. This book is set in 1930s Russia, specifically in a Siberian prison camp.

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte - Also set in Russia, but this time during WWII, this was one of my favourite books from last year

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - An obvious connection here, from a book where most of the action takes place at Tolstoy's house  to a book written by the man.

One Hundred  Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- I originally read Anna Karenina as part of Oprah's Book Club back in the 90s.  This was the first book that I ever  read with the book club! I am not sure I would've read either without my fellow readers and the fun that we had in the forums. I am still online friends with a lot of those people now!

Did you spot the very tenuous link?

Next month the starting point is Phosphorence by Julia Baird, which is going to be interesting to find a connection to. Better get my thinking cap on early for that one!

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte

Well.....I wasn't expecting that!

I am sure that I am not alone in expecting that, when I open a book, I am going to enjoy it. I certainly don't start a book expecting not to like it. It is, however,  a delight when you start a book and know that you are going to LOVE it within a few pages,  especially when it is an author you haven't read before. That is what happened with this book.

Dr Paul Bauer is a military doctor who finds himself stationed in Russia during the harsh winter of 1941. The German army is fighting it's way towards the city of Tula which is around 200 km south of Moscow - almost within striking distance of their ultimate destination. The medical unit is tasked with finding a base to use as a hospital when they commander the estate that was the family home and final resting place of Leo Tolstoy, Yasnaya Polyana.

Bauer is an educated man who read and loved War and Peace as a young man, and he is therefore thrilled to find himself living in the famous author's home. He is especially pleased when he finds a German copy of War and Peace still in the library after all of the most important historical items had been evacuated prior to their arrival. Despite his commanding officer demanding that the book is disposed of, Bauer begins to reread it. As he also speaks a bit of Russian, Bauer finds himself designated to deal with the locals.

Understandably the welcome that the unit receives from the custodian of the estate, Katerina Trubetzkaya, is less than warm, not only because they are the hated occupying army, who she strongly believes will lose this particular battle, but also because to the Russians Tolstoy is an iconic historical figure and so she is determined to protect the estate. It is a task that she takes very seriously. She is able to negotiate with the Germans to enable her and her custodial team can remain at the estate.

Katerina is a strong feisty woman who is determined to fight the Germans in any way she can. Of course, her resources are somewhat limited, but that doesn't stop her from trying using whatever means she has, including psychologically. 

As Paul and Katerina are thrown together due to the strange vagaries of war and fate, they are able to learn each other's story, to discuss life and literature, to learn that despite being enemies they share many commonalities, including both having lost their spouses. 

As the winter gets harsher, the ill equipped Germans have to battle the conditions, but also deal with the heavy intake of casualties, the dynamics between the members of the unit, and the increasingly erratic mental state of the commander of the unit, General Metz.

The author has not been afraid to share war in all details. There is no shying away from the kinds of surgeries that Bauer has to deal with, with the stress of being a surgeon during such periods of battle which leads to long hours of surgery, and grief that comes along with loss of friends and colleagues.

One of the things that was interesting about the structure of this book is that, for the first half of the book, it was a straight forward telling of the story. At about half way through, the narrative is interspersed with  a series of letters that begin to tell the story of what happened to both Paul and Katerina after the time at Yasnaya. History tells that the Germans never did make Moscow, but it wasn't an orderly retreat,and Bauer in particular didn't end up on the better side of the aftermath. Having such a change in structure could be disruptive, but Conte manages it with aplomb. It has the effect of propelling the narrative forward, making you wonder how the characters ended up where they did.

In addition to the actual characters in the book, Tolstoy himself  provides important context within the book. Paul and Katerina are able to discuss both the life of the writer and his works during this short but intense period. The other "character" is the winter. I know it is all about acclimatisation, but this warm blooded Aussie has no idea how people survive in the cold and snow which is described in this book.

As soon as I saw this cover I knew that I wanted to read it. I liked the fact that this is a WWII novel but it has a different setting with the main character being German.

I don't read a lot of books by male authors, but on the strength of this book I will be searching out Steven Conte's previous book, and for anything new that he publishes.

This was an excellent read that I highly recommend.

Rating 5/5

Goodreads description:

Epic in scope, ambitious and astonishingly good, The Tolstoy Estate proclaims Steven Conte as one of Australia's finest writers.

From the winner of the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award, Steven Conte, comes a powerful, densely rich and deeply affecting novel of love, war and literature

In the first year of the doomed German invasion of Russia in WWII, a German military doctor, Paul Bauer, is assigned to establish a field hospital at Yasnaya Polyana - the former grand estate of Count Leo Tolstoy, the author of the classic War and Peace. There he encounters a hostile aristocratic Russian woman, Katerina Trubetzkaya, a writer who has been left in charge of the estate. But even as a tentative friendship develops between them, Bauer's hostile and arrogant commanding officer, Julius Metz, becomes erratic and unhinged as the war turns against the Germans. Over the course of six weeks, in the terrible winter of 1941, everything starts to unravel...

From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Steven Conte, The Tolstoy Estate is ambitious, accomplished and astonishingly good: an engrossing, intense and compelling exploration of the horror and brutality of conflict, and the moral, emotional, physical and intellectual limits that people reach in war time. It is also a poignant, bittersweet love story - and, most movingly, a novel that explores the notion that literature can still be a potent force for good in our world.

Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison

I have a number of historical eras that I seem to be drawn to when it comes to books. Among those are books set in the medieval era, World War I and II, and books set in Russia, especially those featuring the Romanov family.

It was therefore no surprise that I was interested in this book when I first heard of it. The main character of this book is Masha Rasputina, daughter of the infamous 'Mad Monk' Grigori Rasputin, which is an interesting choice of narrator that I have only seen used one other time in Robert Alexander's book Rasputin's Daughter.

This book hinges on the premise that Rasputin organised for his daughters, Masha and Varya, to be made wards of the Romanov family after his death. The book opens with the story of his death, although it is revisited several times through the book, and so the two girls are taken to live with the Tsar and Tsarina, their four daughters (collectively known as OTMA - Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia) and their son, Alexei, or Alyosha as he is known. It is a difficult time to be associated with the Romanovs though.  The revolution is underway, and they are in the process of being removed from the throne. Masha and Varya are basically kept prisoner with the family and it is in this restricted environment that a strong relationship develops between Masha and Alyosha, despite the fact that he is 14 years old and she is 18.

The tsarina believes that Masha has some of the same skills of her father in that she will be able to heal the tsarevich who suffers from hemophilia. While Masha feels the pressure that this assumption heaps on her, it is really Alyosha's mental well being that is aided by his relationship with Masha, especially after he has an accident that causes a hemophiliac episode that leaves him bedridden. Spending time without other family members around, Masha is able to share stories with Alyosha both of her own past, especially the story of how her father came to prominence, of Rasputin's death and of the boy's own family. They talk of how difficult the tsarina found the role that she had married into, the relationship with her critical mother in law, and dealing with the cloud of depression that hovered over her. Alyosha also showed a very practical understanding of the current political situation and the mistakes that his father had made in dealing with the revolutionaries, and he was pretty much convinced that they were all going to die, regardless of the way that his other family members refused to accept this as their future.

Some of these stories were lovely. For example, the two created a dazzlingly dream like sequence of the life of his parents after his mother moved to Russia following her marriage. Nicky (the tsar) would wrap up his much loved wife in the middle of the night and take her out in a white sled pulled by white horses, and show her the city of St Petersburg and the country around their home in a way that just wouldn't be allowed during the day.

There are many instances within the book where the language is beautiful, but I think that I missed having a linear storyline. Maybe because the story is so well known, the author felt some freedom to not need to keep to a strong plot. After all, the ending for the Romanovs was never going to be in doubt. The stories that were told moved backwards and forwards through time, including after the family's death, when Masha eventually gets hold of Alyosha's diary and he tells of life for the family in the 'house of special purpose' they were moved to before they were murdered. While a non linear story can work for me as a reader when it is done well, this was one of those occasions where I found it a distraction.

One of the plot points that were there seemed to be a kind of sexual awakening between Masha and Alyosha initially, and then, once Masha had left the family, with a young peasant girl.  I may be sticking my head in the sand a little, but I look at my 14 year old son and think that it would be just completely wrong for the kind of sexual awakening that it is described with an 18 year old girl. I do understand that being in close confines would possible allow this, but to be constantly guarded and still find a way... not sure.

Masha's story continues after she is separated from the Romanovs, when she is unhappily married and finds herself in various European countries with her charlatan of a husband. Eventually she finds work as a trick rider in a circus, and in due course trading on her father's name before her career is ended in a horrific animal attack. My overriding feeling for Masha by the end of the story was one of despair because she never really seemed to have come to a place of peace within herself, haunted in her dreams by the past and the Romanov family.

There were elements of this that had a magical realism kind of feeling. As an example, the tsarina Alexandra is described as having a cloud above her head that would only disappear when she was happy and this was something that others could see. There are also a couple of episodes where Masha looks inside a Faberge egg and sees a representation of the Romanov's favourite home and the people moving within it. Again, nice imagery, but not sure what it added to the story!

As I read through the other reviews on the blog tour, they are predominantly positive with a couple that were kind of mediocre. If you think that this might be a book that interests you then take a look at some of the other reviews by clicking on the tour details below. It wasn't a book that worked for me though.

Rating 2.5/5

Tour Details

Link to Tour Schedule: http://tlcbooktours.com/2013/01/kathryn-harrison-author-of-enchantments-on-tour-februarymarch-2013/
Kathryn Harrison's website

Synopsis

St. Petersburg, 1917. After Rasputin’s body is pulled from the icy waters of the Neva River, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Masha, is sent to live at the imperial palace with Tsar Nikolay and his family. Desperately hoping that Masha has inherited Rasputin’s healing powers, Tsarina Alexandra asks her to tend to her son, the headstrong prince Alyosha, who suffers from hemophilia. Soon after Masha arrives at the palace, the tsar is forced to abdicate, and the Bolsheviks place the royal family under house arrest. As Russia descends into civil war, Masha and Alyosha find solace in each other’s company. To escape the confinement of the palace, and to distract the prince from the pain she cannot heal, Masha tells him stories—some embellished and others entirely imagined—about Nikolay and Alexandra’s courtship, Rasputin’s exploits, and their wild and wonderful country, now on the brink of an irrevocable transformation. In the worlds of their imagination, the weak become strong, legend becomes fact, and a future that will never come to pass feels close at hand.

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Today I am very pleased to be posting a discussion about Susanna Kearsley's new book which is released in the UK tomorrow and then in the US in April/May! I can't tell you how excited I was when I got an early copy of this book! (There may have been squeeing and happy dancing!) When I knew that Rosario also got an early copy, the idea of doing this discussion post was born. A conversation about one of my favourite authors with one of my favourite bloggers! What could be better?

Rosario has the first part of the discussion, which ended with the question "Were you surprised by the journey that both the present and past characters took?" Her thoughts are in red and mine in black.

On with the discussion...

Rosario: I was, actually. First, although I’d read the blurb, and knew the story would have something to do with Russia, I really didn’t expect for it to be mostly set there. I absolutely loved that it was. I’ve come to expect Kearsley’s books to include settings that are so vivid that they almost become characters in their own right, and I wasn’t disappointed here. You can picture every single place clearly, to the point you can almost smell and taste! It’s not just that she includes a lot of detail, it’s that she includes just the right things and in just the right way. It really isn’t easy to do. I read a mystery recently where the author went into just as much detail (even some of the things that Kearsley does, such as which streets they took to get to X, that sort of thing) and it was incredibly tedious. I just wanted her to get to the flipping point, whereas with Kearsley, I wallow. That’s the only word for it. 

I was also surprised by the plot, especially that of the historical story. One of the things I most appreciate about Kearsley’s books is how she often uses events from history that I really don’t know anything about. It means she can write plots which are very influenced by big-picture historical events and based on real people, and still not dilute the tension, because most readers (me, for instance) will have no idea of how things will turn out. This was just perfect. I had no idea of the history involved, and it was fascinating.

I suppose the romances themselves weren’t as surprising, as they are very much vintage Kearsley, but they were both beautifully done and very satisfying. You mention you had a bit of a preference for the historical story. What was it about it that you preferred? Me, I kept switching sides. My favourite was always whichever one I was reading!

Marg: It wasn’t so much the romance aspect where I preferred one over the other story, although I will say that while Rob feels like a quintessential Kearsley hero, the man in the past didn’t as much! It was more in the historical details like the fact that there were Jacobites that were trying to drum up support for their leader in courts as far away as Russia. I knew that they were in France and Italy, but Russia really surprised me. I also do have a fondness for books that are set in Russia, so the chance to read more about Russian Tsars and spies and St Petersburg back in the day (St Petersburg is high up on the list of places I need to get to one day).

I liked the modern story a lot, but in a lot of ways the relationship between Rob and Nicola felt like it was both their journey (both emotionally and physically) but more importantly it was the gateway to the past story.

While Rob was a character from The Shadowy Horses, this book for me sits more comfortably as a sequel to The Winter Sea. It would work fine as a stand-alone book but better as a sequel. Should we talk about how these two books are connected and a bit about the historical plot?

Rosario: I agree that Rob is THE quintessential Kearsley hero, but “the man in the past” (guess who we’re talking about could be seen as a spoiler!) does have the sense of honour and caring as well, it’s just that he has reasons to present a slightly different façade to the world.

Anyway, yes, the historical plot. Ah, this is going to be delicate, because I don’t want to spoil The Winter Sea for those who haven’t read it, and the very basics of Anna’s story are closely related to the end of that book. I’ll try to keep the particulars of that relationship quite vague.

As you mentioned earlier, Marg, when holding the object belonging to the old lady, Nicola sees an image from the past. One of the two women in that image is Empress Catherine, but the other is a young woman, presumably the ancestor who got given the object. Nicola and Rob realise that their best bet is to find out more about this young woman, and travel to the village by Slains Castle, where the old lady had said she was from (and readers of The Winter Sea are going ding-ding-ding!).

It turns out that using Rob’s powers, they are able to find the young woman, Anna, as a young girl, and by listening in on different episodes in her life, they’re able to follow her. Even though she’s a young girl, the circumstances of Anna’s life mean that she doesn’t stay put in Scotland, but ends up embarking on quite an adventure, first in Belgium, and then travelling to St Petersburg, where she grows up amongst Jacobite families who are still very involved in the fight to put their leader on the throne.

I have to agree with you, Marg, although there are connections to both The Shadowy Horses and The Winter Sea, the fact that Rob is Robbie is just a lovely easter egg (i.e. it’s a nice surprise for those who’ve read TSH, but those who haven’t read it won’t feel like they’re missing anything). The connection to TWS, on the other hand, makes it more of a sequel, as you rightly say. It’s a “what happened next” in the life of several characters, and we even get info that’s quite key to the HEA of TWS’s protagonists. Did you like this about it?

Marg: I did! It’s funny because when I read The Winter Sea, I was completely satisfied with how it ended, and I wasn’t longing to find out what happened next to the main characters. I may have thought about it briefly, but that was about it,. When we found out what happened during The Firebird though, I was really pleased that we did get that glimpse.

One of the key things that I have come to expect from Susanna Kearsley is that there will be a twist in the tale. She is so good at telling a story and then suddenly including something that makes you look back at what you have read and see it a little differently and it all makes perfect sense in the context. For example, when I read the twist in The Rose Garden I literally gasped out loud! Whilst my reaction wasn’t as visceral in this book, it was very much an a-ha moment! I am trying very hard not to give anything away, but did you see the big reveal about one character’s identity coming or were you surprised by it?

Rosario: I did not see it coming in the least, but once I knew, I flipped back frantically and saw the clues I’d missed. And I’d read The Winter Sea, and everything, so you’d have thought I’d have been less oblivious! It was a good way to close that particular element of the story, left me feeling very satisfied.

In fact, satisfied is how the whole book left me. I enjoyed it thoroughly as I was reading: romances, plot, setting, everything! And then I closed it with a smile. It was an A- for me. How about you Marg?

Marg: I knew I was going to like the book it was just a question of how much. It is a Kearsley novel after all and I have said before that I am genetically predisposed to loving her books! It was a 9/10 read for me, so we are about the same in our grading!

Thanks for discussing the book with me Rosario! I enjoyed our discussion!

Rosario: So did I, Marg, thank you!

The Mirrored World by Debra Dean

I often find myself fascinated by novels set in Russia. Whether it be the terrible siege of Leningrad or the final days of the Romanov family, I find it so interesting. I remember thinking a few years ago that it was kind of surprising that there is so little set in the world of Catherine the Great. Over the last 12 months or so, I have read a couple of books with that setting which goes some way towards rectifying that oversight, but I suspect that just like the country itself, Russian history is so vast that it would be difficult to read something about all the different eras!

This book starts in the upper classes of the Russian aristocracy in the latter days of the reign of Empress Elizabeth in the mid 1700's and through the reign of Catherine the Great. Whilst the reader is exposed to some of the key historical events and culture of that time, really the story is much narrower than you might otherwise expect. While other authors might be tempted to fill the pages with what are undoubtedly fascinating details about the glamourous life of the upper classes, Dean is careful to provide the reader with just enough to colour the book, but not so much that the reader loses track of exactly what it is that this book is about.

The book opens with three young women who are about to make their debut into society. Nadya, Xenia and Dasha are on the lookout for husbands. For Nadya, there is marriage to a much older man, Dasha is left for all intent and purpose on the shelf, and for Xenia there is an all consuming love match with Colonel Andrei Feodorovich Petrov. We see Xenia fall in love and then deal with the disappointments and tragedy that life brings her way through the eyes of her cousin and companion Dasha.

It is those tragedies which push Xenia out of what is perceived to be normal for a lady of her class and time and that prompts her to begin the acts of charity that she in the end was known for, and which in due course lead to her canonisation as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Whilst I did enjoy this book by the end, there is a pacing issue in my opinion. The book started really slowly especially as the author matches Nadya and Xenia off with their respective spouses, leaving Dasha to find her match much later in life. We are given small glimpses into the gift of foresight that Xenia displays but even then it was really only once she took the definitive steps towards becoming the religious fool after the tragedies of her life that I felt as though I was thoroughly engaged in the story. Given that the book is actually quite short the fact that at least the first half of it is quite slow means that there isn't enough time and space for this reader to recover from that slow beginning.

While I do understand why it would have been quite difficult to have Xenia as our narrator through the 'fool' section, I do wonder if the book would have worked better if we had of had more insight into Xenia as the main character rather than viewing her through the eyes of a third party, in this case her cousin Nadya. There were also sections in the book where the focus shifted from Xenia to Nadya's own relationships which was an interesting choice on the part of the author.

I have no doubt that when the author comes out with her next book (hopefully still set in Russia) I will still be interested in reading it because Dean is a good writer. She has a lovely voice and turn of phrase. This book just didn't meet my admittedly high expectations.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for my copy of this book.

Rating 3.5/5



Synopsis

The critically acclaimed author of The Madonnas of Leningrad ("Elegant and poetic, the rare kind of book that you want to keep but you have to share" --Isabel Allende), Debra Dean returns with The Mirrored World, a breathtaking novel of love and madness set in 18th century Russia. Transporting readers to St. Petersburg during the reign of Catherine the Great, Dean brilliantly reconstructs and reimagines the life of St. Xenia, one of Russia's most revered and mysterious holy figures, in a richly told and thought-provoking work of historical fiction that recounts the unlikely transformation of a young girl, a child of privilege, into a saint beloved by the poor.

If you are interested in reading this book, we are giving away a copy of it over at Historical Tapestry.

I read this book for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

Recently, there have been several lists of books going around which aim to provide reading ideas for fans of Downton Abbey. I would like to suggest that this book may be a contender. Yes, Anna isn't really a servant, but she spend a lot of her time downstairs as such, and so you do get to see the contrast between the two sets of people who live in Mersham, both below and above stairs, as well as their interactions.

Anna, her brother Peter and their mother basically escape Russia with only a few possessions. Even their jewels that would have given them a comfortable lifestyle have disappeared along with one of their most trusted servants.

Going from a grand lifestyle to sharing the house of her former companion, Anna and her mother are determined to shield Peter from just how destitute they are. He goes off to school blissfully ignorant of their precarious financial situation and Anna finds a job so that she can help meet their living costs. It sounds unusual, but many Russian aristocrats fled from their homeland only to find themselves doing menial, low paying jobs just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table.

Anna is employed to be a maid at Mersham, a grand house owned by the Earl of Westerholme. While Anna is ill equipped to be a maid (she relies on an outdated housekeeping manual to learn how to perform common tasks and how she should interact with other servants) she quickly wins over the staff at the house through her willingness to work hard and her endlessly cheerful disposition. The butler and the housekeeper are fully aware that Anna is not who she appears to be, but they aren't exactly sure who she is.

The reason why the house needs additional staff is that the Earl of Westerholme is returning to the house for the first time since he was wounded during World War I, and he is bringing his new fiancee. Rupert was the younger son and he had planned a life of archaeological digs in exotic locations, but when his older brother died, Rupert is elevated to the title. He needs to marry and marry well. Muriel Hardwicke is beautiful and, more importantly, independently wealthy, bringing much needed funds to the estate. She does, however, bring her own ideas of how Mersham should be run, and who should be staffing the estate and it isn't long before she starts making unpopular changes.

Eva Ibbotson's books are often referred to YA novels. Whilst some of them started out that way others, like this one, have morphed into that classification more recently. I can see why because they are very clean reads and there is a fairy tale like quality to them, but this book was originally published as an adult novel and as such there is complexity lurking beneath the fairy tale including touching on issues like anti-semitism.

Whilst this book was a delight to read, there were some issues with it. It may be part of the fairy tale but the good characters were all very good and the bad guys were all very bad! In this case, the bad guys were the fiancee I mentioned earlier, Muriel Hardwicke, and her dodgy eugenics doctor (albeit with a self proclaimed honorific) Lightbody. Muriel is beautiful and wealthy but there was nothing else to redeem her - she was mean to small children and animals alike - and Lightbody was almost maniacal in his pursuit of the ideals of eugenics which is the idea that advocates the improvement of the human race through selective breeding (obviously a very simplified definition).

One of the strengths of the novel is the fully realised cast of secondary characters ranging from the cook Mrs Park (I recently posted about her creation of a swan for a Weekend Cooking post), the butler Proom to Anna's cousin Sergei, who is working as a chauffeur and has all the ladies swooning over him and not forgetting the snobbish dog Baskerville! I am sure that I am not the first reader to be captivated by young Ollie Byrne, a young lady from a neighbouring family whose sunny disposition and attitude more than make up for her perceived difficulties in life due to her disability.

You may notice that I haven't said much about Anna and Rupert and that is mainly because the book is somewhat predictable when it comes to this particular aspect of the story. There are times though when predictability and comfort are exactly what you want in a story. That predictability is more than made up for in the quality of the exchanges between the two characters. A glance here, the slightest touch, the awareness of each other's presence, knowing that there are shared interests and so much more build the relationship up in a gradual fashion until the characters in the novel learn exactly what the reader has known all along.

One of my favourite quotes in the book wasn't actually about Anna and Rupert at all, but instead was about Susie Rabinovitch, daughter of a local Jewish family and Tommy Byrne. I thought I had written it down so I could share it, but I can't find it. I guess that just gives me a good reason to revisit this book in due course, as I do think that it would stand up to a reread really well!

I keep a list of books that I want to read some day, and sometimes I even manage to remember to put down whose review I read that made me want to read it! For this book, I read Jennie's review 4 years ago and added it my list. Since then I have seen it mentioned quite a few times on other people's blogs and each time, I have thought that I must read this book!

It took a book club meeting to actually get around to reading it! Melbourne romance author Anne Gracie was a guest of the romance book club that I am a member of, even if I only attend semi-regularly. Her book choices were her latest release (understandably) and then this book! I am glad that I finally found the incentive required to read this lovely book.

I own at least three more books by this author that I haven't even opened once. Time to rectify that I think.

Synopsis

After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian Countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. 

Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties - not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. To make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancée...

This book was also read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Imperial Highness by Evelyn Anthony

Imperial Highness is set in eighteenth-century imperial Russia and centres around the life of Catherine the Great and her Romanov descendants. Against this Czarist background, Evelyn Anthony vividly recreates the deformed and immature figure of Grand Duke Peter, to whom Catherine was first betrothed as a young German princess. And to whom she became a wife in name only. Alongside him, the dazzling person of Catherine herself is made  to live again: a woman who dreamed of leaving her name in the annals of world history even as a child.Whether as wife, mother, lover or future Empress of Russia, the role of Catherine Alexeievna is never without colour. And in Imperial Highness, Evelyn Anthony captures the personal fascination of her subject while also telling the story of Catherine's adulterous love affairs, and the struggle for the imperial throne.

Some times when I look at the recent and upcoming historical fiction releases I scan through looking for something other than yet another Tudor book, or this year in particular another book about Eleanor of Aquitaine and I wonder why there aren't books about some of the other fascinating characters in history. For example, I cannot for the life of me figure out why there are so few books around about the life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.

Here we have a strong, beautiful, charming and beautiful ruler clad in fabulous clothes and jewellery who ruled her land for many years- everything that a queen is supposed to be really. She lived a very dramatic life filled with tension, conflict, lovers and scandal, led her country into a period of learning and culture and so much more.

I was glad to see that next year there is going to be a new book on Catherine, but in the mean time I was even happier to see someone reference this book on Goodreads. My own library doesn't have this book but fortunately I was able to borrow it through inter library loan. If you don't read any further in this review, the fact that I have already requested the next book in the trilogy, also through ILL, should tell you that I enjoyed this first book very much.

Young Princess Augusta Frederica was from a very noble, but very poor family in what is now modern day Poland. When she is summoned by the Empress Elizabeth of Russia everyone knows that it will likely lead to marriage, but for the young princess it is also a potential way out from underneath the harsh control of her mother and her very pious father.

Upon arrival in Russia, the young princess takes the court by storm, with one exception. Her future husband Peter, nephew and heir of the Empress Elizabeth, takes an instant dislike to the newcomer, and so a relationship that will be the source of much scandal over the years to come is formed. The Peter portrayed in the book is maniacal, immature, ill-formed and basically unsuitable for his future role as Emperor of Russia, particularly because of his very Prussian views and loyalties. For Elizabeth though, she sees no choice but to keep him as her heir, and initially she see the young princess that she has named Catherine as a possible positive influence on Peter. She could hardly have been more wrong.

However the Empress also had a somewhat changeable nature and it doesn't take much to upset her, so Catherine goes from being in favour to very much out of favour, especially given that the marriage between Catherine and Peter does not and can not provide the one thing that Elizabeth desperately needs from them - a legitimate heir.

One of the questions that I have thought about off and on over the years is one related to time travel - Where and when would you like to travel to if you could? While I always struggle to the where, I always know what I wouldn't want to be - a noble. Being highly born seems to have been quite treacherous in many countries and the imperial court of Russia was no exception. When there was no baby forthcoming, the Empress Elizabeth had the couple basically locked up together for years in the misguided hope that there may at last be a child. Time and again Catherine was bought before the aging Empress and feared for her life having offended the ruler in some way or another. Then again, I wouldn't really have wanted to end up as a serf either, so maybe I will just stay in the comfortable surroundings of here and now.

Years later, when finally freed from captivity, we see a much harder, much wiser Catherine, but also a woman who knows what she wants, and this includes various lovers! Catherine had used her time in captivity to educate herself and emerged having studied many of the great minds of the age. She was still young, still beautiful, intelligent and above all ambitious! And with her husband seemingly barely capable of controlling himself let alone an entire empire, the Catherine that we know from history emerges to take control. The book closes with Catherine coming to the throne, ably assisted by those loyal to her including her powerful lover who orchestrates the bloodless coup.

I wouldn't say that I am particularly knowledgeable about the life and times of Catherine the Great. Even just a quick look at a few websites after finishing the book seems to indicate that there are some discrepancies between the history portrayed in this book and what actually happened, but when all is said and done, this was a really entertaining read full of dramatic moments, court intrigue, passion and ambition, and this reader was left wanting more!

Please note that this book was also published under the title Rebel Princess, and is the first book in the Romanov trilogy.

Rating 4.5/5

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

A mysterious jewel holds the key to a life-changing secret, in this breathtaking tale of love and art, betrayal and redemption.

When she decides to auction her remarkable jewelry collection, Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi Ballet, believes she has finally drawn a curtain on her past. Instead, the former ballerina finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland and of the events, both glorious and heartbreaking, that changed the course of her life half a century ago.

It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of the theater; that she fell in love with the poet Viktor Elsin; that she and her dearest companions—Gersh, a brilliant composer, and the exquisite Vera, Nina’s closest friend—became victims of Stalinist aggression. And it was in Russia that a terrible discovery incited a deadly act of betrayal—and an ingenious escape that led Nina to the West and eventually to Boston.

Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime. But two people will not let the past rest: Drew Brooks, an inquisitive young associate at a Boston auction house, and Grigori Solodin, a professor of Russian who believes that a unique set of jewels may hold the key to his own ambiguous past. Together these unlikely partners begin to unravel a mystery surrounding a love letter, a poem, and a necklace of unknown provenance, setting in motion a series of revelations that will have life-altering consequences for them all.

Interweaving past and present, Moscow and New England, the backstage tumult of the dance world and the transformative power of art, Daphne Kalotay’s luminous first novel—a literary page-turner of the highest order—captures the uncertainty and terror of individuals powerless to withstand the forces of history, while affirming that even in times of great strife, the human spirit reaches for beauty and grace, forgiveness and transcendence.

As soon as I first saw this book being talked about, I knew I wanted to read it. There is something about Russian history, particularly 20th century Russian history, that makes for compelling reading for me, and this book was no exception. I was however a bit concerned that my lack of knowledge about ballet might be problematic, but in the end, this was a minor issue. Most of the time, I was lost in the world that the author created in both Moscow and Boston.

The three main characters in this drama are Nina Revskaya, a former ballerina and star of the Bolshoi Ballet, Grigori Solodin, a professor of Russian, and Drew Brookes who works in a prestigious auction house.

The story begins when Nina, who is now wheelchair bound due to her physical afflictions gained through many years of dancing , decides to sell off many of the jewels that she has accumulated throughout her years as a famous ballerina and to donate the proceeds to the Boston ballet. Some of the jewels are gifts received since her defection, but there are others that she bought with her from Communist Russia, and it is really those that are the catalysts for the stories that we hear about Nina's life.

We first meet Nina as a young child who is taken to try out for the famous Moscow ballet school. From that time on, Nina lives and breathes ballet, determined to work her way up through the ranks of the competitive and prestigious Bolshoi Ballet.

When Nina meets poet Victor Elsin, she not only falls in love but also loses some of her political naivety. This is the second novel I have read in the last month that is set in Stalinist Russia (the other being The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore). Both books do a great job of showing readers, who in most cases can only begin to imagine, what it is like to be constantly on edge, worried about which ones of your neighbours or friends is informing on you, and knowing that it doesn't take much to lose a person in the notorious prisons of the time.
When Nina agrees to sell her jewels, the auction house sends Drew Brooks to try and garner more information from the famous ballerina - photos, anecdotes, anything that can be used in the auction catalogue. Nina, who has never really learnt to trust anyone, is resistant to sharing those memories, despite the fact that each day she (and the reader) is transported back in time to spend time with her friends: Gersh, a Jewish composer, and Vera and Polina who are also dancers. Drew is devoted to her work, often going above the call of duty, but she is not quite as successful in her private life, much to her mother's consternation.
The third strand of the story is that of Grigori Solodin, a professor of Russian at a prestigious university, and a man who has a strong professional interest in the poetry of Victor Elsin (Nina's husband), for reasons known initially only to him at the beginning of the book. When Grigori decides to also donate a  necklace that appears to match some of Nina's jewels, Brook is left with more questions than answers. Is the necklace part of the same set, but most importantly, what is the connection between Nina and Grigori?

At it's heart, Russian Winter is a story about reevaluating what you think you know about your life,. For Nina, this means reevaluating her life through the lens of her memories of her life with her husband and in the oppressive regime where no amount of success guaranteed safety. For Grigori, it is not only his past as a recent widower and his struggle to move on with his life, but also a search for identity, for belonging, for answers he has been searching for his whole life. And for Drew, questions about her grandfather's life, about her failed marriage, and her future happiness  - about looking back, but also about moving forward.

I love it when story lines are interwoven with each other, and going backwards and forwards in time, but it has to be done well. With all three of the characters looking back at their lives, there could have been capacity for Kalotay to lose some of those strands, but she managed to weave the various story lines together with aplomb.

I also really liked that between each chapter there was a description of some of the items that were going up for auction, and I especially liked it when we got to see how it was that Nina came to own that particular piece.

If I was to make a criticism of this novel, it would only be a small one, and that relates to the way the novel was wrapped up - it was too soon! There was one event that was telegraphed but that the reader didn't get to see, and I really wanted to experience that moment with the characters! The other thing is that, there was one particular relationship that felt too convenient. Without giving too much away, the chemistry was good between the characters, but I am not sure that I necessarily felt that the connection between them was as strong as it was implied to be.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it, especially if you enjoy reading about Russia, ballet, jewellery or if you are in the mood for a fascinating story that you can get lost in for a few hundred pages.

Once again, I am grateful that by agreeing to participate in a blog tour I was given that extra push to read a book that I would have eventually read, but it would have taken me ages to actually get to. I am almost reluctant to return Russian Winter to the library now!

To find out more about the author and her book, visit her website, her Facebook page, or the reading group guide.

To see what other people thought of the book, check out other stops on the Russian Winter blog tour, as organised by TLC Book Tours:


Tuesday, April 5th: Library Queue
Wednesday, April 6th: Luxury Reading
Thursday, April 7th: nomadreader
Monday, April 11th: A Few More Pages
Thursday, April 14th: We Be Reading
Tuesday, April 19th: Books Like Breathing
Tuesday, April 19th: Chefdruck Musings
Thursday, April 21st: Book Addiction
Monday, April 25th: red headed book child
Tuesday, April 26th: Red Lady’s Reading Room
Wednesday, April 27th: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Thursday, April 28th: Calico Critic
Friday, April 29th: Wordsmithonia
Monday, May 2nd: Historical Tapestry
Tuesday, May 3rd: Man of La Book
Wednesday, May 4th: In the Next Room
Thursday, May 5th: Life in the Thumb
Friday, May 6th: she reads and reads

Classics Circuit- War and Peace

When I signed up for the latest Classics Circuit Tour, I knew I was being ambitious. The tour theme is White Nights on the Neva: Imperial Russian Literature, and I had nominated that I was going to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  I was however realistic enough to realise that it was highly unlikely that I was going to be able to read the whole book, but rather that my post would be a progress report.

First though, I thought I would talk a little bit about Imperial Russian Literature. I have vague recollections of reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, or at least starting to read it, during high school, but really that was about all for my exposure until much later in life.

Ever since it started, there have been criticisms of Oprah and her book club, but for me, it was really her revamped classics book club that gave me my next intro into the world of Russian literature. Without the selection of Anna Karenina as one of the reads, I am not sure I would ever have picked Tolstoy up. Part of the reason for that is that I feel some what intimidated at the idea of reading the classics, and yet when I make the decision to actually read one, I invariably enjoy it. That was definitely true of Anna Karenina, especially as my reading of it was enhanced by the discussions that I had with the group I was involved with on the boards. I am still friends with some of those same people that I met in those discussions, and the depth and fun that we had in those discussions remains with me even now.


Every now and again I think I should reread Anna Karenina, but it hasn't happened yet. I guess I could have chosen to read that book for this tour, but I thought I would take the opportunity to try something new. I knew that I could enjoy reading Tolstoy. The question was really would I enjoy War and Peace as much as I enjoyed reading AK.

The first big question is which translation to read. Given that I had enjoyed the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of AK, my first thought was to continue with them, but it is fare to say that when you ask that question, people are passionate about which translation you should choose!

In the end I went with the tried and tested, for me at least, and chose the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation.I originally borrowed it from the library, but I quickly realised that possibly wasn't the smartest thing as there was no way I would be able to get the book read in the four weeks allotted so then I ended up buying a copy.

My reading started off quite well really, but the sad truth is that I have stalled a bit in my reading of War and Peace. I was making good progress with it for the first 10 days or so, but since then other books have gotten in the way. At this point I am on page 228 of 1215 pages of story and so have read through the first Part of the novel, plus a bit more. There are lots more pages of notes and appendices which I haven't included there, but I will work through them.

So after all that intro, what are my thoughts on the book itself? As I was I am surprised how much I am enjoying it. Yes, it is a challenge, but there are reasons why certain books stand the test of time, and that is because for the most part they are good reads.

So far it seems to me that there are two voices in this novel. The first is of the ladies and gents of the upper society, as they come to the realisation that there is definitely going to be war. There is the political discussion, the manipulating to try and get sons into influential positions where they may well be safer as well. There is the gossip about the manipulations and manipulators, about the ill mannered, about love affairs and those young men who are either not going to war or who are partying extremely hard on the eve of going to war. All of these happen in the shadow of the impending death of Count Bezukhov, the father of one of the main characters, Pierre, who is the count's illegitimate son.

The other strand is with the soldiers, particularly with Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky who has signed up to be an aide-de-camp to an important general. The narrative here is gritty and realistic.

The thing that constantly surprises me as I read though, is that the text can move from an in depth discussion about the tactics of war, to a very funny scene like the one where the soldiers have marched for miles, are told to get dressed in full dress uniform for parade, only to then be told that their leaders wanted them to look bedraggled, and vice versa, to then moving to the socialite world where people are trying to protect their cut of the inheritance and back again.

In a recent Teaser Tuesday post, I shared a brief passage on how Tolstoy described this novel:

It is not a novel, still less an epic poem, still less a historical chronicle. War and Peace is what the author wanted and was able to express, in the form in which it is expressed.

For this reader, despite what it is not, according to the author at least, it is an adventure. I don't really know what to expect next. It could be details of a big battle, it may be more social shenanigans, it may be funny anecdotes, or it could be none of those things.

 It may be slow going for me to continue on my adventure, but continue I will, and I really hope to be able to make some significant progress on it soon.

Under a Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall

Davinsky Labour Camp, Siberia, 1933: Sofia Morozova knows she has to escape. All that sustains her through the bitter cold, and hard labour are the stories told by her friend Anna, beguiling tales of a charmed upbringing in Petrograd - and of Anna's fervent love for a passionate revolutionary, Vasily. So when Anna falls gravely ill, Sofia makes a promise to escape the camp and find Vasily. But Russia, gripped by the iron fist of Communism, is no longer the country of her friend's childhood. Sofia's perilous search takes her from industrial factories to remote villages, where she discovers a web of secrecy and lies - and an overwhelming love that threatens her promise to Anna. But time is running out. And time, Sofia knows, is something neither she nor Anna has.

Just over a year ago I read Kate Furnivall's first book, The Russian Concubine, and totally enjoyed it. When I heard that the author had a new book out I was hoping for a sequel to that book. I didn't get it, although it is coming this year, but having now read this book, I am not all that disappointed.

Where The Russian Concubine featured Russian characters who lived in China during the turbulent 1920's, this book is set in Russia itself. Now I love reading anything set in Russia, but this is the first time I remember reading anything set during the Soviet era of the 1930s, where the populace is ruled by fear of being arrested for the slightest misdemeanours or connections, and sent to the prison camps often never to return.

Our main character Sofia has been thrown into the prison camps of Siberia. It is there that she meets Anna, a young woman who has also been imprisoned due to her connections with the aristocracy. Each day the women have to perform back breaking manual labour, getting by any way they can. Sofia realises that her friend cannot take much more of this, so is determined to escape and find Anna's childhood friend Vasily. Whilst Anna is terrified for Sofia's safety, she also believes that Vasily will help her if he can.

Sofia finds her way to the village where they believe Vasily is now living, only to be drawn into the collective farming environment where the state determines that absurdly high quotas must be reached, and that no one, no matter how starving they are, gets to keep anything for themselves. She finds herself drawn both into the town and to the people of the town, but she knows that ultimately her aim must be to get back and save Anna, if she is still alive.

There Sofia meets Mikael, a prominent man, who is raising his son alone. As Sofia must take on a new identity and avoid the attention of the authorities, others within the village wrestle with the distinction between duty to each other and duty to the Motherland, with potentially disastrous consequences for all of them.

There are lots of events in this book that are highly improbable, but such is Furnivall's story telling skill, that it doesn't matter all that much. If you want a book filled with high drama with romantic and some minor paranormal elements , and that will keep you reading until the wee hours of the morning, then this may well be a book that you will enjoy.

If I had to choose between this book and The Russian Concubine for a first time Furnivall reader then the latter would win, but this is still a very enjoyable read, about a time and place that I haven't read much about.


**** Please note that in some countries around the world, this book is published under the title The Red Scarf.****

Rating: 4 out of 5

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

Britain, 1854: the Crimean War captures the imagination of young men eager to do battle with the new enemy, Russia, but as winter closes in, the military hospitals fill with the sick and wounded. In defiance of Florence Nightingale, Rosa Barr - young, headstrong and beautiful - travels to the battlefields, determined to be useful. Her cousin, Mariella Lingwood, remains at home with the sewing and writes letters to her fiance, Henry, a doctor working within the shadow of the guns. But when Henry falls ill and Rosa's communications cease, Mariella finds herself drawn inexorably across the Black Sea, towards the war. Following the trail of the elusive and captivating Rosa, Mariella's journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea, and prompts a reckless affair with a cavalry officer whose complex past is bound up with her ordered world, but reveals a well of unexpected strength and passion that may help her to survive against the desolation of war.

Last year I read The Alchemist's Daughter by this author and quite liked it, so when I saw that she had a new book coming out I was pleased. What made me more pleased was that the novel was set in a period which I hadn't really read much about about (The Crimean War) and seemed, from the blurb at least, to feature one of the more iconic female historical figures (Florence Nightingale). I say seemed to because in actuality, Florence Nightingale was a shadowy figure very much on the edges of the storyline.

What the book was actually about was two young women, Mariella Lingwood and Rosa Barr. There are two separate threads of storyline within the novel. One focuses on the relationship between the cousins from their initial meeting, to a summer vacation that goes terribly wrong, and how it is that Rosa came to be living with Mariella and her family. In some ways, some of this background seemed a little superfluous, although I guess that it was supposed to show us that Rosa had always been rebellious and headstrong.

The other thread of the storyline is initially a trip for Mariella to locate and care for her fiance, Henry Thewell, who is a doctor serving in the Crimea. He has however been invalided back to Italy, and Mariella and her companion are shocked to find him in a terrible condition. It transpires that he has crossed paths with Rosa whilst in the Crimea because she has gone off to become a nurse. After Mariella somewhat shockingly comes to realise that Henry is not exactly the man that she thought he was, she makes her way to the Crimea to try and search for Rosa because there has been no correspondence from her from some time. Rosa has left her supervised post, and appears to have made her own way to work more closely with the injured soldiers and it seems as though something very terrible may have happened to her.

The girls (or I should say young ladies) seem to have a somewhat obsessive preoccupation with each other. They are very different creatures, and yet love each other deeply - the main word that I could come up with to describe their relationship was besotted. Mariella is a the very model of a middle-class young lady. Her time is taken up with family, sewing and charitable causes, whereas Rosa is brash and impulsive, involved with people and causes that are not acceptable in polite society. Even Rosa's decision to go off and nurse is not quite above board. She initially was rejected by Miss Nightingale as a nurse, and so filled with determination that she would go, even if it is on her own, she has to find another way to get taken to the Crimea.

Where this novel is good is in the descriptions of the siege conditions and battles. The author does not sugar coat the horrors that accompanied warfare in the 1850s, let alone sanitise the suffering that was caused by cholera and Crimean fever that was rampant amongst the nurses and troops who had the misfortune to be posted to the siege at Sebastopol. She also did a great job at describing the indignation of the British people when they learnt that their young man were being sent to a place where there wasn't enough medical equipment to cover the most basic of war injuries, despite the promises made otherwise before the conflict began.

What didn't work so well for me was the never ending search for Rosa to try and determine what exactly happened for her. It seemed as though that part of the novel just dragged and dragged. Could she be here, maybe she's there. In the end, it was resolved but not until the last couple of pages of the novel.

Along the way, Mariella, who really is the main protagonist, learns a lot about herself, under going a physical and emotional journey that will leave her changed for the rest of her life.

This was a somewhat uneven attempt to portray a time that is not really all that commonly covered in historical fiction and yet is quite a fascinating time. This is one occasion where the two different time frames being told alternately within the narrative really didn't work all that well.

It is something of a surprise to me that such a romanticised figure like Florence Nightingale hasn't been given the HF treatment that I know of, or at least not all that recently.

This is my first book completed for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Word Lily

Tatiana's Table by Paullina Simons

In her internationally bestselling trilogy, Paullina Simons introduced Tatiana Metanova, one of the most remarkable heroines in contemporary fiction. The unforgettable story of her lifelong love affair with American soldier, Alexander Barrington has warmed and broken hearts across the globe.

Now comes the final, delicious chapter: a collection of Tatiana's favourite recipes, the first truly epic cookbook, which spans the second half of the twentieth century and two continents, through times of war, times of famine, times of peace, and times of plenty.

Here are delectable peaks into the life and love of Tatiana and Alexander as well as their children and grandchildren. From traditional Russian cuisine to American staples, to exotic dishes with international flair, Tatiana's Table is full of twists and turns to delight readers and food lovers everywhere.

I am a huge Paullina Simons fan (including a mod on her reader forums) but as I read this book, I couldn't help but wonder about what the intention was when writing it. As far as I can tell, it is a response to requests for more Tatiana and Alexander, because it doesn't seem to add all that much to the trilogy.

Now that paragraph probably makes it sound as though I didn't enjoy this book, but I did! I really did, but this is definitely a book for existing fans of the trilogy that started with The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to the Holy Cross (also published under the title Tatiana and Alexander in some places) and The Summer Garden. What I don't think that this book will do is to draw new fans to the series, because if you picked up this book having not read any of the others then you certainly wouldn't understand what was going on, and I doubt that it would really inspire you to pick up the other books.

So what is this book? It really is mostly a cookbook, which is interesting seeing as it was labeled as fiction at the bookstore. The book is broken into several sections that reflected various phases and locations throughout Tatiana and Alexanders life, starting from their childhoods, through the blockade of Leningrad, to Tatiana's time in New York and then a couple of other locations through to their life in Arizona.

Amongst the anecdotes, there are definitely things that build upon things that we already knew from reading the trilogy. For example, throughout The Bronze Horsemen we are told that Tatiana and her sister Dasha were very close, but this book actually shows that closeness - the way that when they were both starving during the blockade Tatiana and Dasha would cuddle under the blankets to try and keep warm and Dasha telling Tatiana how to cook many of their family favourites. There are also lots of other little interesting glimpses like Tatiana and Vicki in Vietnam, and small anecdotes about the other children who didn't really have a lot of focus on them in the earlier books.

My favourite anecdote was definitely Tatiana and Alexander's 50th anniversary celebrations, and the what if question that was asked. What if Tatiana had never found Alexander - would they have been apart forever or would they eventually find each other again.

Oh, and I should mention that some of these recipes sound really, really good! There are definitely a few that I am going to try one day!

The strange thing about Paullina's books is how little availability there is in other markets, particularly the US, especially seeing as she is an American author. The second and third books are only available through bookclubs such as Book of the Month Club and Double Day. I have no idea whether this book is going to be made available in the US or not, but if anyone is desperate to get hold of this one let me know and I can get you some links, or come to some arrangements to assist.

In summary, if you are already a fan of The Bronze Horseman trilogy then you will really enjoy this book. Paullina Simons has also confirmed that this is the last glimpse into Tatiana and Alexander's life - it is time to move on, and her next book, called The Bartered Bride is to due to come out in Australia and New Zealand in November! I am looking forward to it!

Rating 4/5

Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander

With the same riveting historical narrative that made The Kitchen Boy a national bestseller, Robert Alexander returns to Russia for the harrowing tale of Rasputin's final days as told by his young and spirited daughter, Maria.

After the fury of the Russian Revolution has swept Nicholas and Alexandra from the throne of Imperial Russia, a special commission is set up to investigate the "dark forces" that caused the downfall of the House of Romanov. The focus, of course, turns to Grigori Rasputin, the notorious holy man and healer who was never far from the throne.

To discover the truth, the commission interrogates Maria Rasputin, the oldest of the Rasputin children, in the ransacked Winter Palace. There, she vividly recounts a politically tumultuous Russia where Rasputin's powerful influences over the Romanovs is unsettling to all levels of society, and the threats to his life are no secret. While vast conspiracies mount against her father, Maria must struggle with the discovery of her father's true nature - his unbridled carnal appetites, mysterious relationship with the Empress, rumours of involvement in secret religious cults - to save her father from his murderers. With clarity and courage, Maria shatters the myths of Rasputin's murder, revealing how she tried to save her father, who nearly killed Rasputin and, most importantly, the devious secrets his murderers still guard.

Using long lost files, Robert Alexander once again delivers an imaginative and compelling story: Rasputin's Daughter vividly brings to life one of history's most fascinating and legendary periods.

I've been sitting here for ages trying to think what to say about this book, which really surprises me for two reasons. Firstly, I don't normally have that trouble, and secondly, I really enjoyed this book so it shouldn't be so hard.

The story starts with Maria Rasputin being picked up and taken to face the commission that has been set up to investigate what caused the fall of the House of Romanov. The irony of the fact that one of her father's favourite authors is the man charged with recording the evidence of what happened to Rasputin is not lost on Maria, but once she has agreed to cooperate she starts her story a week before his death.

For Maria, the events of the last week before her father's death were very revealing. She began to understand his true nature - including the nature of his relationship with the royal family, some of the people that he associated with, and many of his own personal demons. In many ways, however, this book was more about Maria coming to see her family through adult eyes - understanding that her father was not perfect in many ways, and also understanding that the events that were taking place around her were out of her control. It was also about her coming to know herself and facing the consequences of her own decisions as she finds herself falling for the mysterious young man who has appeared and then disappeared from her life a couple of times.

As with The Kitchen Boy, Robert Alexander manages to effectively convey the confusion and fears of characters living in a turbulent time in Russian history. In some ways, this book felt a little more cohesive than The Kitchen Boy, maybe because it was at it's very core a simpler story. I certainly felt as though I was going on the roller coaster ride of emotions as faced by Maria - from the fear for her father's life, to the excitement of falling in live, to the confusion as she comes to realise some of the facts about her father, to her courage as she faced the reality of what had happened to her father, and to her, and a very uncertain future.

A very entertaining read about a very interesting period in time!

Rating:4.5/5

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

One of the most talked about books of the year . . . Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. And while the elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—her distant past is preserved: vivid images that rise unbidden of her youth in war-torn Leningrad.

In the fall of 1941, the German army approached the outskirts of Leningrad, signaling the beginning of what would become a long and torturous siege. During the ensuing months, the city's inhabitants would brave starvation and the bitter cold, all while fending off the constant German onslaught. Marina, then a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, along with other staff members, was instructed to take down the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping, yet leave the frames hanging empty on the walls—a symbol of the artworks' eventual return. To hold on to sanity when the Luftwaffe's bombs began to fall, she burned to memory, brushstroke by brushstroke, these exquisite artworks: the nude figures of women, the angels, the serene Madonnas that had so shortly before gazed down upon her. She used them to furnish a "memory palace," a personal Hermitage in her mind to which she retreated to escape terror, hunger, and encroaching death. A refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . .

Seamlessly moving back and forth in time between the Soviet Union and contemporary America, The Madonnas of Leningrad is a searing portrait of war and remembrance, of the power of love, memory, and art to offer beauty, grace, and hope in the face of overwhelming despair. Gripping, touching, and heartbreaking, it marks the debut of Debra Dean, a bold new voice in American fiction.

Being such a huge fan of The Bronze Horseman trilogy by Paullina Simons, I am always very interested when I find a book that has as it's setting Leningrad during the siege during World War II. And then as I start getting closer to actually starting to read the book, the doubts start. Mostly those doubts centre around the fact that I know that there is no other book with a similar setting that will come close to being anywhere near as good as The Bronze Horseman. What I do find though, is that some of these books do have their own place, where they help fill in a bit more of the gaps that there are about what life may have been link in Leningrad during the Siege.

For example, in The Bronze Horseman one of the scenes is where Tatiana and Alexander are walking past the Hermitage and they notice that the museum curator is overseeing the loading of many of the priceless pieces of art into cartons and getting them shipped out of Leningrad so that they will not be damaged during the sustained bombing raids. This book, focuses a lot on that process, and then about what life was like in The Hermitage after all of the art was gone, and the skeleton staff that remained were living in the basement. As Marina goes about her daily work she creates a Memory Palace in her mind, so that even though the walls are bare, with just the empty frames in place, when she walks into any room in the museum she can still 'see' the pictures on the wall in her mind, to the extent that at one point she gives a group of people a tour of some of the highlights using just her memories to feed their imagination.

And yet, this book is also as much about the pressure that a family has to deal with as Alzheimer's sets in ravaging the mind of Marina. They find out things about their mother that they never knew, and in some cases that helps them identify things in their own lives. For example, Marina's daughter Helen is an artist, and yet she never knew where her love of art came from, so it is a huge surprise to her when she finds out that her mother had studied the arts and had been a tour guide in the world famous museum. It helps Helen to piece together a few pieces of her own identity, even while at the same time she understands that her mother is slowly losing her own current identity.

For the most part this book works. The narrative does alternate between Leningrad during World War II and current time America very smoothly, and the sense of desperation and deprivation was adequately portrayed through out the book. Where it did fall down a bit though for me was that there were several things raised that we never got answers for, and there were significant events that were just explained in a paragraph and that was it! For example we find out that Marina's husband had been a Prisoner of War, and there is literally a one sentence explanation of how Marina and he had been miraculously reunited completely by chance at the end of the war.

Despite the inevitable comparisons to The Bronze Horseman, this is actually a much different book, with a completely different focus, and so it is probably unfair of me to constantly compare, but I can't help it!

For the most part this was an enjoyable read. If there weren't those unanswered questions that were left hanging at the end of the book, I would probably have rated this book higher.

Rating 4/5

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Booking Mama
Out of the Blue
A Life in Books
Lesley's Book Nook