Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 333
Challenges: None
Source: Review copy from publisher (Bloomsbury)


The Short Version:
Anastasia Romanov, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia tells the story of the end of the Romanov dynasty and the beginning of her first love.

Why I Read It:
Ever since I read Robert K. Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra when I was in high school I’ve been a total sucker for all things Romanov.  When I was offered a copy of this book for review it took about a nanosecond for me to say yes.

The Book
Anastasia Romanov tells her own story.  At the beginning of the book she and her family are on the way to yet another location in their long difficult exile in Siberia at the hands of the Bolsheviks.  The story then takes the reader back three years to when young Anastasia first meets a soldier named Sasha in the garden of one of the Imperial palaces.

The final years of the Russian Empire and Revolution that leads to her father’s abdication are seen through the eyes of this teenager.  While Anastasia has led a privileged and sheltered life as one of the Grand Duchesses of the Russian royal family, she has also been a part of a close and loving family who take their obligations and duties to their country seriously.  The world outside the palaces is changing and Anastasia learns much of this through Sasha.  As their friendship blooms into young love, the world around them is changing in dramatic and devastating ways.

My Thoughts:
As I said above I have an inherent interest in any book about the Romanov family.  Over the years many versions of the myths regarding the Tsar’s youngest daughter have been told.  This is one that spends more time than most on the years leading up to the revolution and overthrow of the empire. 

I think that the author did an excellent job of blending well-researched facts with a new twist on a fictionalized version of the story.  She shows that while privileged, the Tsar’s children led a life that was not complete luxury even before their exile. 

The love story was sweet and enmeshing it into the final years rather than the final months made it more interesting to me.  For someone who has read a lot of both fiction and non-fiction stories of the events covered in this book it might be a bit on the simpler side.  However, for any adult or young adult who is fairly new to reading about the Romanov’s and their story this is a great version to start with.  There is a lot of well done research behind the work and while fiction, does not necessarily move into the history changing realm.

I’d recommend it, particularly if you haven’t read that much about this family.

I’d also like to pass along a recommendation from the author’s note at the end of the book.  If you want further information about this story and time please visit http://www.alexanderpalace.org.  This is a fascinating website.  In addition to a tremendous amount of information and photographs it also includes the full text of some memoirs that I was thrilled to see.  I plan on spending some time reading them and want to thank Susanne Dunlap for leading me to this fascinating site.

Rating 3.5/5