“This is hands down one of the best historical fiction novels I have read. Period. End of story. It is engrossing and beautifully written. The story is that of the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas Romanov, and his family, as they live out their final days imprisoned in a home in Siberia. Their kitchen boy (who, in historical reocrds, is the only member of the royal entourage notw murdered) is the focus of this story. While it does have that "did anyone survive" motif that is so common in fictional accounts of the Romanov family's deaths, it is not sensationalist. It is tender, heartbreaking, and entertaining without being melodramitic and implausible.”
