The Diamond Secret // by Suzanne Weyn

//published 2009//

The story of the assassination of the entire Romanov family during the Russian Revolution is one of darkness and sadness.  An entire family, including children, slaughtered.  Although Suzanne Weyn tells us in her afterword that she knows DNA testing has proved that there were no survivors from that tragedy, she still goes on to tell a story of what could have happened if Anastasia had actually survived.

We begin with the Romanovs and the night they were killed, then skip ahead a year to the story of Nadya, who works in a tavern.  She has no memory of her life before she woke up in an asylum a year before.  When two men arrive at the tavern and claim that Nadya’s grandmother has hired them to find Nadya, she decides to go with them to France.

This isn’t a book full of surprises.  It’s obvious from the beginning that Nadya is Anastasia, and equally obvious that there will be some reason that Nadya does not end up claiming that name (since there is no Anastasia in real life).  Still, despite the lack of intrigue, the story was still well-written and enjoyable, if a bit simplistic.  A lot of details and difficulties were sort of skimmed over or resolved through convenient coincidences.  Still, a decent tale.  3/5.