Many years ago, I was intrigued by the movie Anastasia staring  Yul Bryner, Ingrid Bergman and Helen Hayes.  The film was about a woman, Anna Anderson, several Russian expatriates convinced to impersonate Anastasia, the youngest grand duchess of Russia.  They coached her and filled her head with information in hopes she could fool the Dowager Empress Marie into thinking she was her granddaughter. In time, they began to suspect Anna Anderson actually was the missing grand duchess.  The romantic in me hoped they were right.

My interest in Anastasia lead me to read Candace Fleming’s book “The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia.”  The story alternates between a frank recounting of the Romanov’s’ fairy tale lives and narratives from Russian peasants, workers, revolutionaries and soldiers.  The contrast is stunning.  In fact, for me it was an eye opener.

Fleming points out that at the turn of the century “84% of the Russian population were peasants who owned only a few acres of land, 10.5% were urban workers, 1% professionals, .5 % clergy, 2.5% others, and 1.3% nobility and state officials.” There was virtually no middle class. The Romanov family isolated themselves from the outside world living in a luxurious bubble.  In denial, they refused to see  a revolution was coming that would ultimately led to their murder.  It is a pity that the Empress Alexandra, Anastasia’s mother, did not follow her grandmother Queen Victoria’s (of England) advice “to win the love and respect of the Russian people.”

In the final chapters of her book, Fleming recounts the brutal murder of the Romanovs. On July 17, 1918 they were gunned down by their Bolshevik guards. Fifty-eight years later, their remains were located. The discovery was kept secret until 1991 when the communist hold on Russian began to collapse.

Originally, only five skeletons were found, two were missing – one of a grand duchesses and her little brother.  Experts could not determine whether they had Anastasia’s or her sister Marie’s remains.  In 2007, the missing remains of the two family members were located along with the remains of Anastasia’s dog, a little King Charles spaniel.  Anastasia had not survived the brutal murder of her family after all.

Fleming’s book is well researched and written.  I particularly enjoyed the numerous archival photographs that added depth to the narrative. For me, “The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia” was a great read.  I highly recommend it!

Note: “The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia” by Candace Fleming has just been award the Orbis Pictus Award by the National Council of Teachers of English for 2015.