EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
A haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center.
In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land...
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...a young girl lived happily in Moscow with her family: a sister, a father, and an eccentric mother who liked to tell fairy tales and collect porcelain dolls.Â
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One summer night, everything changed, and all that remained of that family were the girl and her mother.
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Now, a decade later and studying at Oxford University, Rosie has an English name, a loving fiancÃĐ, and a promising future, but all she wants is to understandâand buryâthe past. After her mother dies, Rosie returns to Russia, armed with little more than her motherâs strange folkloreâand a single key.
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What she uncovers is a devastating family history that spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalinâs purges, and beyond.
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At the heart of this saga stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actionsâand love for an idealistic manâwill set off a sweeping story that reverberates across the century....
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