Think you know the story of the Romanovs? Have your own private theory of who survived the slaughter by the Bolsheviks, and how? Do you think Anastasia survived, and the woman who claimed to be her was telling the truth?
Doesn't matter, because that's not this story. (sorry, couldn't resist)
Nadine Brandes comes up with a quiet, sad, enthralling reimagining of the last days of the royal family of Russia, how they might have endured exile and captivity with spiritual faith and nobility ... and how things might have been very different if they had had some magic available.
Or, in this case, not available. The story is told through Anastasia's eyes. She is entrusted by her father with the mission of getting her hands on a matryoshka -- a Russian nesting doll. Each doll holds a spell, and one of those spells, or several, could help their family escape. Or, at the moment of crisis, survive the firing squad.
The problem is opening the dolls. The bigger problem is getting her hands on the doll set, when it is confiscated by the commander of their guards. An even bigger problem is that magic is outlawed by Lenin and his followers, and the spell masters, who write spells with magic spell ink, are being hunted down and executed, if they don't employ their skill for the benefit of the Bolsheviks.
Anastasia has a little skill using spell ink, and desperately needs some to write spells to help her hemophiliac brother, Alexi. She suffers when he suffers, and her frustration and wavering faith and mischievous nature and determination to best the enemy even while under their power carry the story along.
Heartbreaking, breathtaking, broken by moments of, "No, Nastya, don't do that!" A definite "you'll be glad you read this one."
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