• I Was Anastasia

  • By: Ariel Lawhon
  • Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

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I Was Anastasia

By: Ariel Lawhon
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Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of The Frozen River comes an enthralling historical mystery that unravels the extraordinary twists and turns in Anna Anderson’s fifty-year battle to be recognized as Anastasia Romanov. Is she the Russian grand duchess or the thief of another woman’s legacy?

Countless others have rendered their verdict. Now it is your turn.

Russia, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police herd Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.

Germany, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water or even acknowledge her rescuers, Anna Anderson is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious young woman claims to be the Russian grand duchess. As rumours begin to circulate that the youngest Romanov daughter survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats awaken.

I Was Anastasia unravels the thrilling mystery around Anna Anderson in a tale that is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted.

©2018 Ariel Lawhon (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

‘I Was Anastasia is a wild train trip through time. The doors swish open here, then there, scenes sometimes racing by, sometimes drifting far into the mysterious lives of Anastasia Romanov and Anna Anderson. Every view is tantalising, surprising, compelling, and utterly fascinating. Ariel Lawhon unfolds a complicated story with skill, style, and compassion.’ (Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours)
‘A young Tsarina traveling towards tragedy and an aging Grand Duchess penniless and betrayed. Twin stories so gripping you will believe history itself can be rewritten. Told with masterful intensity and moments of true human compassion.’ (Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand)
The fate of the Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of the last Tsar, is an old mystery that never gets old. In the hands of Ariel Lawhon, it springs to life again, challenging everything we believe about what we remember and who we are. Was Anna Anderson really the only survivor of the Romanovs or was she a persistent fraud? Somehow, Lawhon, a masterly writer, not only leads her readers to ponder this riddle, but to care about it as well. This is a deft and deeply moving saga.’ (Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean)

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