Take a photo of a barcode or cover
nferre 's review for:
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar
by Robert Alexander
I started this book during a trip to Europe, read it on the plane home and promptly lost it. I was about to buy another copy (3 months later) when it resurfaced! I had been left wondering about the tragic saga of the Romanov family, imprisoned during the Russian revolution and later executed. (and if that is a spoiler, then so is the sinking of the Titanic!)
This is the story of their last days as told by a 14 year old boy who worked in the kitchen and smuggled out messages from the Romanovs to a nearby convent. His relationship with the family and knowledge of what happened later are told in novel form in this book. There are actual copies of the smuggled notes in archives which have been opened to the public and which form the basis for the book.
I enjoyed the narrative, the format and especially the last twist. Nobody knows for sure what happened, and there is much speculation out there. I'm not sure why dna tests haven't been done, or maybe they have and they are not publicized? I'm off to do some additional internet research on this family. I remember news stories from maybe 20 years ago, about a survivor, but they are fuzzy in my head.
This is the story of their last days as told by a 14 year old boy who worked in the kitchen and smuggled out messages from the Romanovs to a nearby convent. His relationship with the family and knowledge of what happened later are told in novel form in this book. There are actual copies of the smuggled notes in archives which have been opened to the public and which form the basis for the book.
I enjoyed the narrative, the format and especially the last twist. Nobody knows for sure what happened, and there is much speculation out there. I'm not sure why dna tests haven't been done, or maybe they have and they are not publicized? I'm off to do some additional internet research on this family. I remember news stories from maybe 20 years ago, about a survivor, but they are fuzzy in my head.