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The story of the fate of the Russian royal family in the early 20th Century is well known, they were butchered by the Bolsheviks after they were transported from pillar to post during World War I. Whilst war raged, Revolution at home was building. The conspiracy theory persisted that there were indeed survivors of the mass execution, people came forward who later in the 20th century claimed to be Tatiana or Anastasia or Olga… the Romanov children who had somehow survived the massacre. And it is with this tiny percentage of doubt about the fate of the children that Gill weaves a credible and gripping story. Gill was alerted to a snippet on TV about a mooted relationship between Tatiana, one of the daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, and a cavalry officer and this serves as the foundation for a gripping time slip story. The Romanovs were the glittering family who were at the height of power as World War I started. Their glamour and wealth were beyond comprehension, they were synonymous with sparkling jewels, opulence and of course Fabergé eggs. As the war took its toll, however, the disparity between their wealth and ruthless rule, and the poverty of the populace lay at the heart of the burgeoning revolution. Cavalry officer Dimitri Yakovlevich Malama and Grand Duchess Tatiana forge a close friendship after she nurses him in a makeshift war hospital.novel set in russia The world as they know it is unravelling around them. War takes him to several fronts, yet they maintain a close and chaste connection and on the eve of yet another departure, they marry in secret. This gives him the strength to withstand the terrors and onslaughts he is about to face at the front. But as the casualties rise, the revolution grows until finally the Romanov family is herded and all the members, it is reported, are summarily executed. Dimitri naturally becomes distraught and clings to any sign of life, and finally lands in Berlin after the war. There he meets Rosa, but is not really emotionally available to her as he is still in thrall to his Tatiana… and he struggles to extinguish the hope of ever finding his true love alive. Rosa is a tolerant soul and tolerates his ambivalent commitment to her… Forward to early 21st Century and his great granddaughter, grappling with her husband’s infidelity, takes off for a shack set on fictional Lake Akanabee in a remote part of New York state, which was left to her in her great grandfather Dimitri’s will. She knew nothing of his existence until she was alerted to her legacy. It is here that she spends a Summer of reflection and research that unravels a painful, yet interesting family history. This novel bowls along at a very good pace, it is well researched, and the author’s passion for this period in history is palpable. You too will wonder at the fate of the Romanovs and whether indeed any members could have survived their experience and what their story might have been. This is an excellent novel to delve into this country’s troubled past.