I WAS ANASTASIA by Ariel Lawhon

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

Did the Czar’s teenage daughter Anastasia survive the revolutionary firing squad in 1918 and get rescued from a freezing Berlin river in 1920? History has spoken on the myth of Anastasia, but Ms. Lawhon’s brave re-rendering maintains suspense until the end. As the story unfolds, we cheer for Anastasia’s deliverance just as populist sentiment in the mid-twentieth century embraced the belief that Anastasia had survived. The story of the Berlin girl’s claim to the Romanov fortune is told backwards, and we meet great characters who aid the claimant over a period of five decades. The tale of the Romanov family’s descent from opulence to captivity, and ultimately into the cellar in July 1918 is interspersed with the claimant’s story. Ms. Lawhon’s settings are memorable, from the Gatsby-esqe accommodations of the claimant’s benefactors, to the Romanov family’s palatial lifestyle and later its sparse Siberian existence in captivity. Characters are drawn skillfully, particularly as the motivations of the claimant’s benefactors are explored, ranging from pursuit of power to greed, to social climbing, patriotism and even quixotic nostalgic yearnings.