Germany, February 17, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal in Berlin. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water, she is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless, horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious woman claims to be the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia.
Her detractors, convinced that the young woman is only after the immense Romanov fortune, insist on calling her by a different name: Anna Anderson. As rumors begin to circulate through European society that the youngest Romanov daughter has survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats are awakened. With a brilliantly crafted dual narrative structure, Lawhon wades into the most psychologically complex and emotionally compelling territory yet: the nature of identity itself.
The question of who Anna Anderson is and what actually happened to Anastasia Romanov creates a saga that spans fifty years and touches three continents. This thrilling story is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted. (Pub Date: Mar 27, 2018)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
I got this book to read for the same reason most readers my age will: I was a fan of the animated film, fell in love with Anastasia's fantasy, even watched the musical before it was on Broadway. I'm not sure whether thatwas -the- reason for my disappointment but it was certainly one of them.
This is basically the biography of Anna Anderson, the girl who for many years and even after her passing was taken for Anastasia, the lost Romanov princess. Lawhon chose a very interesting method narrating the parts of Anna's life in a backwards manner while telling the story of Anastasia's dismay from when the revolution started to the death sentence to the entire royal family.
This was a good choice in the way that the climax was exactly when Anna's story and Anastasia's meet. How did Anastasia survive? How come she became Anna and no one believes she is actually the Russian princess? Those questions are to be answered right there, and I should say it was beautifully done. All the tension was properly built in a way I really didn't know what Lawhon was planning.
This said, the book as a whole was underwhelming.
Firstly, the backwards storytelling wasn't well executed. There were too many characters in Anna's life, and we not only lost track of them, also we'd only find out later how they met. So they were characters I didn't care about and didn't know why I even should and to make things worse, when I finally understood them, they were forever gone from her life. After all, we're going back in time. I won't even go on about the names, but even the author recognized in her notes how they could be confusing. She did try to give them nicknames but then it made things worse for me—I had to memorize one more information without any idea of why.
To make things worse, I didn't really connect to Anna's character. I wanted her to prove she was who she claimed to be, I wanted the best for her, but I didn't really care about anything happening in her life. She wasn't charismatic and she didn't even try to be nice.
My favorite parts were surely Anastasia's. These were quite lovely. Her relationship with her family, with her friends and with people in the palace. It was almost like reading a different book so much better it felt to read it.
Still, Lawhon did manage to connect each part, they weren't there at random. It probably took a lot of planning and control to be able to tease the readers about some information in one timeline and then revealing it in another.
In sum, I was disappointed, I was bored, but it wasn't a terrible experience. Lawhon is surely a talented writer and ultimately I got where she wanted me to go. I'd recommend this to people who prefer non-fiction, even though this is classified otherwise.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
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