This is nothing like the Disney version of Anastasia Romanov. It is so much better! Written by Arial Lawhon and well researched historical accuracy, I cannot recommend this book enough. I only saw the Disney film a few times as a child and I don’t recall learning about Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family in history class. The book tells their story with many historical facts (I googled a lot while reading) while also being a compelling fictional read.
I Was Anastasia
For many years there were questions on whether Anastasia Romanov survived execution. With that speculation came many women impersonating her. One of the best known is Anna Anderson. In this book, Lawhon tells the story of Anastasia Romanov leading up to execution in 1918 and of Anna Anderson going backward from 1970. The chapters flip around in time between the two narratives much like The Au Pair I read last year. However, each chapter and section says the date and I quickly found that make it easier to follow.
In 2007, thanks to DNA testing it was put to rest. Anna Anderson was indeed a fraud and that Anastasia Romanov died with her family in 1918. But this book is fiction and I believe that knowing those historical facts only made me more intrigued on how these stories would meet. I could not put it down and had to know! Without giving anything away, I can only encourage you to pick up I Was Anastasia yourself.
I don’t normally read historical fiction but something about this reminded me of Queen Elizabeth’s Diary that I read and was fascinated by as a young girl. About halfway through this book I also realized I had one other historical fiction book on my Want to Read list on Good Reads. Ironically, that book is also by Ariel Lawhon. I am now more interested in reading Code Name Helene because I loved I Was Anastasia so much.
Happy reading!