Anastasia and Her Sisters

by Carolyn Meyer

There’s a heavy price to pay for royalty in this compelling—and true—story of Anastasia Romanov and her fellow grand duchesses of Russia, from an award-winning novelist.

It’s summer in 1914 and the Romanovs are aboard the Standart , the Russian royal yacht. Tsar Nicholas, Tsaritsa Alexandra, their four daughters, and the youngest child, Tsarevitch Alexei, are sailing to Romania to meet Crown Prince Carol and his parents. It seems like a fairy tale existence for the four grand duchesses, dressed in beautiful clothes, traveling from palace to palace. But it’s not.

Life inside the palace is far from a fairy tale. The girls’ younger brother suffers from an excruciatingly painful and deadly blood disease, and their parents have chosen to shield the Russian people from the severity of the future tsar’s condition. The secrets and strain are hard on the family, and conditions are equally dire beyond the palace walls. Peasants suffer under the burden of extreme poverty and Tsar Nicholas’s leadership power weakens. And when the unthinkable happens—Germany declares war on Russia—nothing in Anastasia’s world will ever be the same.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction, Russia, Romanovs, Royalty

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Carolyn Meyer is as versatile a writer as you will find. Along with historical fiction and realistic novels for young adults she has written nonfiction for young adults and books for younger readers on topics as diverse as the Amish, the Irish, Japanese, Yup'ik Eskimos, a rock band, rock tumbling, bread baking, and coconuts. And ten of her books have been chosen as Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. In her most recent historical novels she has dealt with the young lives of Mary Tudor, Princess Elizabeth, Anastasia, and Isabel of Castilla, Spain.

Reviews

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro into the Romanov royal family for those who haven't yet heard the story. The story is told from the perspective of Anastasia and gives a good glimpse into the family and it's troubles. I've read a lot already on the subject so didn't learn anything new but I read it with my daughter who is just now learning about their (and her own Russian) history.

Ending spoiler: For those concerned about the detailing of the end for the younger audience (younger side of YA), the author does a good job of just letting us know that they were executed without all the drawn out, graphic details which I appreciated as my 14yo daughter was learning of this story for the first time. I was concerned it might be too graphic at the end but it was told in the epilogue in a general way, although it had to be said that they were shot and there were some struggles in the end. So, the author didn't gloss over it but she spared the reader the graphic details. A good start to the younger crowd just learning about this family and their history.

[Abby Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first heard about the release of this book, I was very excited; because Carolyn Meyer is the author of the first book on Anastasia Romanov I ever read.

I was ten (well techinally a little under two months from my 10th birthday, but, hey, rounding), and it was a gift from my mum; I still have it!

🎵 It was June... I was ten. I still think of that day now and then... 🎶

(Disclaimer: technically, it was mid-March, but that reference is too good NOT to use!)

Now, Meyer is a wonderful writer and her attention to detail and history is as excellent as ever, but she has one failing. And that is her inability to show as well as tell. As a writer myself, I don't actually believe in the "always show" myth, because I know how absurd (and tedious, for author and reader alike) that was be if taken literally, but A LITTLE more showing in this book wouldn't have done it a lick of harm. Meyer's brilliant telling prose was perfect for the royal diaries series, but as a novel that is supposed to be a real time POV? Meh... It shows this isn't her strongest ability. She has the habit of jumping from one thing to another very jarringly, as if the entire book is just a collection of diary entries. Scenes don't end as much as just stop or taper off.

Also, for a book that allegedly was written so Meyer could explore more of the relationship between Anastasia and her older sisters and little brother, it really didn't do so. We did get to see a lot of Olga and her relationship with Anastasia (a WONDERFUL portrayal, I might add, and very believable) but very little with her other sisters who seemed to fade into the background. As for Alexei, I felt he had too little interaction with Anastasia in this for the reader to care when he was injured/suffering from his bleeding condition. I would have liked a couple more bonding moments between the two.

The Gleb Botkin/Anastasia thing was cute, but it felt a little rushed at the end like Meyer was just trying to make sure she got the subplot in there. I'm sure this was meant to be bittersweet, but it was irksome, especially since Anastasia spends the earlier part of the book with a big crush on Dmitri (the guy who helps kill Rasputin; I believe this is the same gentleman you can see walking with young Anastasia in a 1913 film reel) which goes nowhere.

However, her last meeting with Gleb, and the clock in his drawing telling her the time was an extremely clever and surprisingly believable touch, so there's that

All that said, this is still a wonderful book, with great detail you won't find as readily in other similar works (here-in, we get to see the Romanovs react to the sinking of the Titanic, as well as Olga fall in love with Pavel, and Anastasia dance with her cousin Dmitri, among other things).

This is not a book to be missed if you love reading about the Romanovs.

[Kayla Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed with this one. It did not feel original and I didn't get anything new out of it - it was simply another retelling. There was no hook, no fixed plot line, nothing. I finished the book and tried to remember what I'd read - nothing stood out. The whole thing was lackluster for me. The only reason I gave it two stars is because I thought the idea was a good one and the writing itself was decent enough that I didn't give up on the book altogether.

[Lyd's Archive (7/'15 to 6/'18) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To begin, I didn't expect much from this book. There are already a good number of books about how Anastasia sees her country's descent into war and revolution and this book followed the same lines as all the others I have seen. In addition, Anastasia isn't the best choice to narrate the entire story because so much is kept from her by protective parents and older siblings. If Anastasia hadn't been such an object of media attention, I think that Tatiana or Olga would have been chosen to narrate the Romanovs' story because they had more romance in their lives and knew more about what was going on.

The one original idea Meyer used in this telling was to start the book in 1912 instead of 1914, giving readers stories of Olga's ill-fated romance with a sailor and mentioning the Titanic, an apt metaphor for the Russian monarchy. However, the reason most books based on Anastasia's life begin in 1914 is because their prewar life is just not interesting, which showed in Meyer's telling. While her facts are good, the story just falls flat, so I can't really give this anything higher than 2.5 or 3 stars.

However, its historical accuracy brought my rating up to three. So many books just can't get it right I have to give Meyer some credit. She also fixed the masculine/feminine name problem she had in the earlier Anastasia book she did. Honestly, though, she was a lot better in the poor neighborhoods of mid-19th-century Paris (Marie, Dancing).

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite thing about reading this historical novel was the countless inclusions of details that I had just read about in the nonfiction book The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia. Of course, Carolyn Meyer took liberties in crafting this story, but it was a really interesting look at the inner emotional lives of a family as they hurtle towards calamity--particularly of the four rapidly-growing daughters.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting look at the Romanov family. Having Olga's diary entries was like having a second perspective on events. I did a paper about this family a few years ago and so I knew how their story ended, which made reading about and getting invested in the characters pretty heartbreaking.

[Lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is extremely well-researched! It's a fascinating story and it's definitely different than what Disney told me as a kid. I loved reading about Russian culture, and I even recognized some of it! It's pretty average writing but it's enough to execute the story very well.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad for all the novels of this era who were killed and imprisoned by the revolutionaries. Especially since many of them were young and innocent.

[Dr. T Loves Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

The following response was written for the class for which I read this book:

Despite the award this book has won, I found myself having a very hard time forcing myself through it.

My first major issue was the constant “telling” and cataloging of things going on, rather than having a story woven that shows events and pulls me in, making me care about the characters and their situation. I think this is due mostly to the choice to have a first person narrator telling the audience what’s going on over the course of seven years. As extraordinary as the lives of the Romanovs were, getting the limited perspective of an insulated, undereducated child left me wishing for much broader and grander storytelling.

This led to my second major issue: it wasn’t really a story, just a lot of “Then this happened. Then this happened. Then this happened.” Again, cataloging. And I know there are some readers who like this kind of thing, but I’m not one of them. Give me a conflict with which the protagonist must contend, and show me how those contentions turn out, positively or negatively. Anastasia felt more like a doll than a person, to be move and posed and instructed, rather than a person who would engage with and react to her changing fortunes. And, again, this may have been the reality of her situation, or even the point of the book - to point out how little agency the princess had. But I didn’t see it that way, and it just struck me as boring.

Another part of the problem was that I didn’t feel like I could trust the information, particularly the attributed quotations, after page 65, when Olga says, “Uncle Sergei was blown to bits” (Meyer 2015). I doubt Russian princesses in the early 1900’s spoke that way, and it really made me question the authenticity of the rest of the story.

I have no doubt that there is an audience for this book, but pairing it with The Family Romanov felt a bit like a cruel joke, because that work was so well-constructed and provided such a great view of what was going on at this pivotal time in Russian history. I learned quite a bit from that work, but felt like I not only didn’t learn much from this one, but also that I couldn’t really trust what was introduced here.

So, I feel like I’ve answered your second discussion question somewhat; I don’t feel Meyer stayed too close to the truth in this novel, and I feel like this story is the worse for it.

I am having trouble separating my dislike of the construction of this book from the content, so I’m not sure I can say how well Meyer managed to get the audience to feel sympathy for the Romanovs. I understand the need for Anastasia to have to read her sister’s diary in order to help flesh out the story, but it makes her seem dishonest, and somewhat weak-willed, since she says multiple times that she will no longer do so, and yet she still repeatedly does. Olga, the least two-dimensional of the sisters, seems a little bit tragic in her wish to marry the man she loves, only to be denied this desire because of their mismatched social stations; but she also seems a bit whiny. I actually found myself wishing to read the story of Aunt Olga’s life - she had character, she was engaging, she had some interesting perspectives on things.

As for your final discussion question, I found myself asking that repeatedly throughout my reading of both of these books. I don’t know what it is that cemented Anastasia as the pick of the Romanovs in the eyes of the public. My best guess is that it was a combination of her age (not quite old enough to be seen as a challenge or hard-to-match role model) and her personality, as related by Fleming, who suggested Anastasia might have been the most relatable and down-to-earth of the Romanovs (with the possible exception of Marie, who seemed to be quite the cypher in both works).

[The Damsel in the Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing I always appreciate about Meyer is her way of teaching history without being boring. I've read almost all her books because I never fail to learn something. This was no exception.
I've only seen the 1997 animated film and now I know that it's pretty inaccurate. But I digress.
This book is more tell than show, but I still felt a connection to the characters and couldn't help wanting a different outcome, even though I knew how it ended. Interesting, informative and engaging, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an introduction to early 1900s Russia. I would've liked a map and a section on how much of the book actually happened. I'd certainly say I "liked it."

[Elizabeth ♛Smart Girls Love Trashy Books♛ · Rating 3 out of 5]

-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-

This was alright, but I don't really think I was in the proper target audience for this. I'm not talking about being too old to read this, since I read lots of childrens' books and enjoy them. I'm talking about the fact that this was obviously written for someone who was just starting to read about the Romanovs.

Most of the book is just nothing but exposition and explanations about who her servants were and their nicknames, and the nicknames of her family and everything, and that might be helpful to someone who wanted to learn more about the Romanovs, but it's not really helpful to me, who already knew so much about the Romanovs by the time I read this. Plus a lot of the stuff you're told in this book you can easily find out on Google. Did you know Anastasia's favorite color was pink and wore a giant pink sunhat during the summer constantly? Did you know when she was given her name, which came from Greek, a lot of Russians grew concerned and asked the Tzar to change it since Anastasia wasn't considered a proper Russian girl name? Well you do now, but you wouldn't learn that from this book.

Aside from that, like I said, this book was just alright. It was more a recollection of various important events in Anastasia's life like her other books about famous royalty, narrated by Anastasia of course. The personalities in this one seem fine, but they could always be better. I did like how Anastasia found Olga's secret diary and started reading it to herself-now THAT'S something Anastasia would do!

As stated before, if you've never read very much on the Romanovs before and want a good start, this would be a great one to try. But if you're like me and breathe the Romanovs every day of your life, well you should probably skip this one unless you want to be really bored.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anastasia Romanova was the youngest and the most well-known daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, due to the fact of the many stories and speculation which suggested she had somehow managed to escape a grisly death. The hope of her surviving that horrific day had lasted through generations, even I had hoped so when I first read about Anastasia as a child in elementary school, still young enough to expect only happy endings. The story of Anastasia (and even that of Anne Frank) was so eye opening and yet so heartbreaking.

It’s been years since I’ve read something about Anastasia, so when I saw that Carolyn Meyer had written this book, I grabbed it. Carolyn Meyer has a way of making history come alive through her writing, providing historical details through the eyes and ears of people who are often just seen as mundane names in a history book. I knew what the outcome would be (obviously), but still I felt emotional about the way these young women, their family, and loyal friends met an end that, in my opinion, was really unnecessary.

If you’re a fan of the Romanov family and of the incredibly talented Carolyn Meyer, Anastasia and Her Sisters is a must read.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I just read this too close to The Family Romanov, which I really enjoyed. As a result, nothing in here felt very new or interesting to me. I know that Anastasia is the most famous of the sisters, but framing the story through her eyes, when she was the youngest sister and protected from a lot of the things that were happening, didn't work as well for me. It would have been more interesting to see the world through Olga's eyes.

This is a well written book, and if I had read it at a different time, it might have held my attention better. If you don't know much about the Romanov family, this would be a decent place to start, especially if you prefer fiction to nonfiction.

[lorien ‧͙⁺˚*･༓ଳ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is definitely one of the best historical fiction novels I've read in a while. I loved how the author took some of Anastasia's diary entries and put them in this book. I didn't really expect the ending though. I thought Anastasia died of the old age, not from murder. I continuily felt awful that her family was under house arrest during WWl. They couldn't do this or that and their "guards" treated them horribly. Some disrespected the tsar but their were a few who treated them kindly. The fact that the guards wouldn't let them even see anyone while they were on house arrest is ridiculous. This book helped me have a better understanding of the Romanovs.

[MissyLynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another version of the Romanov history told through the POV of Anastasia.

Yes, the book was decent, but I get tired of all the stories being told via Anastasia's voice. She may have been the best known due to the imposters who pretended to be her, but you never really hear much through her older sisters' POV. I can think of maybe one or two books off hand.

[LPR · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a lot of strange reading habits, but one of the stranger ones that I just can't seem to shake no matter how hard I try is the occasional necessity to read something out of obligation to my 10 year old self. And not just to 'give it a try.' I felt totally obligated to finish this book, even though it was largely unremarkable.
To explain, we must time travel to the Silver Mesa Elementary Library.
Aaahh yes.
No, too far, now we're in the Babysitters' Club era, that's too far, closer, fourthish, fifthish grade--there we go.
This book has shiny pages.
It's Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914, a Royal Diaries book. *Opens book.*
Do you hear that? It's my whole life shifting. The kick-off of a several-years-long historical fiction fixation, my obsession with Russia, my LIFELONG JOURNALING HABIT etc etc. In following I read every Royal Diaries and Dear America book I could get my hands on, loads of other historical fiction, and then, later, all of Carolyn Meyer's books, which scratched the same itch for a slightly older me- history history history, even if, as novels of character and plot, they weren't the best. Only to find out that Carolyn Meyer WROTE Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, a fact that made my whole life make a little more sense in retrospect. I distinctly remember telling one of my classmates to read this book, but "don't read the epilogue, it's so sad" and then they did and I was just like "what did I tell you, I said not to read the epilogue." I can actually physically feel the out-of-left-field shock of "Anastasia and her family were led down to the basement, a chair was fetched for Alexei and for Alixandra, and then they were all shot." rolling through my body.
"Whatt"
__ANYWAY__ Enough memoirizing. (I have all the time to write a review and not much to say actually about Anastasia and her Sisters so... we ended up with a memoir chapter)
Anastasia and her Sisters was standard Carolyn Meyer fare. History, clearly well researched, but there isn't much by way of real characterization that felt tangible or memorable. Held down by the lack of plot that happens when you just follow real people through nearly a decade of their life, coasting on the driving plot force of ... linear time? Rising revolutionary tensions? Threat of war? Also obviously held down by the repetition and boringness of not only being a child in a country where things are happening but no one is telling you about it, and then being a teenager who is under house arrest. Difficult parameters to make into a good novel, I'll give you that, but still, it could be done and this ain't it.
I've simply outgrown the Carolyn Meyer approach. My brain is advanced enough to take real history, so I wanted real history! I've read so many wonderful historical novels following fictional characters in extraordinary and real historical circumstances (Code Name Verity, Under a Painted Sky, A Death-Struck Year, Salt to the Sea, A Gentleman in Moscow oh my HEAVENS Gentleman in Moscow, a true gold-standard book), and these primer-approach first-steps-into-learning-about-something type of books are not what I need anymore. Meyer's young-YA take on this story was pretty on par with her Royal Diaries take on it (from what I can remember of a book I read three times ten years ago), just more years covered - which led to it feeling much less focused or vibrant, and with the additional feeling, constantly, that Olga (Anastasia's oldest sister) would have made a much more interesting protagonist/perspective. We only are obsessed with Anastasia bc of the survival myth. Olga was really a much more interesting person from what is present in these books, even if only because she was older while the bulk of it was going on. There's only so much "i'm a child and no one is letting me in on the secrets" that I, as a reader, can take before I'm just like "I'm not a child and I can read about whatever is going on from some other source than you, why am I bothering with this filtered version"
Basic takeaway: Meyer, if you want to write an Olga novel: do it. I will read it. Yes, I may read it out of obligation but I will read it anyway and I'm sure it will be quite good.
Other basic takeaway: I'm going to end up on an endless research spiral any day now, or I'll live forever in a constant state of "about to ignore my friends and family for a month and dig into decades of Russian history for no reason" and that's just how my life will go.
Anyway, standard Carolyn Meyer fare, hopefully I've finally kicked the habit (I've read SO MANY of her books and NONE of them are amazing and yet I KEPT GOING)

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the latest works by young adult historical fiction writer, Carolyn Meyer, has her tackling the tragic story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov and her family. Just a young girl, Ana is a lively child who is born to loving parents and surrounded by her siblings and people who always admired her. While she lives in adoration by her family, the world outside the palace is crumpling. The peasants are getting hungry, the nobility is outraged at Tsarina's dependence on Rasputin to heal the ailing heir, Alexei, of his secret condition, and Tsar Nicholas is unable to quell the rising disputes within the country. Throughout this, Ana and her three older sisters all try to live their lives as they were destined: religious devotions, courtly appearances, and marriage prospects. As the sisters grow into young adults, their childhood literally ends with the rising political tension destroying their family. And as many would know the real story, there is no happy ending for the Romanovs.

Like other works by Meyer, the story is written in first person view of Anastasia. She is sneaky, vivacious, a prankster, a girl who was excited to grow up. The story is a little slower than her other books, in that it really focuses on Ana's relationship with her family, specifically her sisters. They are all different in their own ways, yet they compliment each others' personas well. To explain the events that Ana wasn't present for, she reads her older sister's, Olga, secret diary that provides the historical details that would later come into play. Meyer does her best to make Ana human in her words, which I would say is real close to the real Duchess. Additionally, the author does her best to keep much of the plot and details close to the real facts, another factor I really like about this book. There are also many appearances of the historical figures of the time, many whom would come and go, only to get explanations of their fates in the epilogue.

Other reviewers who tend to complain the story is very slow from beginning to end, may not seem to understand that the Duchess was left in a helpless situation that could lead to either life or death. Stories like these are more character-driven than they are plot, which allows for Ana's story to be told since her life ended so abruptly short that no one would truly ever know how she felt through the experience of the revolution. A real tear jerker, I'd say Meyer accomplished to bringing Ana's story to life and justice.

[Stasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, true story- I first was introduced to Carolyn Meyer as a writer when I bought the Royal Diary of Anastasia that she wrote for my tenth birthday. I still have the very same edition with my name penned into the inside cover. That book was the one to first really introduce me to my namesake and her tragic fate, that to this day, I'm still not over.

Fast forward to my late teen/early adult years, when I was devouring historical fiction and read almost everything by Carolyn Meyer. I found her website and emailed to tell her how much I loved all her books, in particular her series on the wives/daughters of Henry VIII, and my beloved diary of Anastasia. I asked if she had ever thought about writing anything more in depth on Anastasia as part of her 'Young Royals' series. She emailed me back and said that at the time, she was not thinking about doing so, but she never says never. I believe I emailed her three more times over the years to ask if she had changed her mind, and one time to ask what she thought about the character of Anna Anderson. She emailed back very nicely every time. It was fun to talk about history with her. So, when a year after my last email to her, she announced on her Facebook page that she had a new book on Anastasia coming out, I sort of felt like maybe I at least had a little part in inspiring her...or, bugging her... Into writing another installment.

This could just be my own bias, but Meyer is still my favorite historical fiction writer. I think historical fiction is incredibly hard to get through when the writing and research are lacking, and that is never the case in anything Meyer has put out. I've also read a few really poorly researched YA on Anastasia, where the author took too many liberties in changing the timing and events of what happened. We all want the story to end differently, but, the sad reality is that it doesn't. Meyer puts it out in a way that is respectful to the events that happened, but also puts her own twist on the ending in a way that would be believable without compromising the character of Anastasia. This and 'I Was Anastasia' by Ariel Lawhon are my two absolute favorite historical fiction books on the Romanovs.

[Emily Gadberry · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Teacher's note: This book is 308 pages).

This book, written from the perspective of a teenage Anastasia looking back on her life, describes the world of the four Romanov sisters in early 20th-century imperial Russia, and depicts the tragic fall of the Romanov family as Russia falls prey to war, violence, and civil unrest. The book (which is based on real historical events) begins with glittering descriptions of balls, visits from palace to palace, and other aspects of Romanov life. The Russian people love Tsar Nicholas Romanov (at least, according to Anastasia), and he and his family are venerated as the First Family of Russia. However, darkness begins to creep in as Anastasia describes her brother Alexei's intense struggles with hemophilia, and her parents' efforts to hide his illness from the eyes of the nation they hope he will someday lead. But, when the Russian Revolution hits, they find out that that's the least of their problems.

Honestly, while this book wasn't terrible, there wasn't a whole lot to recommend it. I'd already read another book for younger readers that Carolyn Meyer wrote on this exact same subject ( The Last Grand Duchess , part of the Royal Diaries series), and I honestly thought that one was better. I think the main flaw of this book was its being written mostly in past tense, because it gives a settled and final feeling to something that should feel immediate and overwhelming to Anastasia and readers alike. If she'd written it in present tense, where we get to experience each passing day with Anastasia and feel the pathos as she and her family slide toward tragedy, it would've felt much more emotionally resonant and compelling.

[Mya Goode · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Anastasia. The book starts with Anastasia and her sisters hiding. The book is told from the point of view of Anastasia. Anastasia tells the story of her life as if she if she is recalling old memories from her life. It mostly takes place through her life, but she is telling the story when she is seventeen. She begins telling the story as a way to explain to the reader what lead them to this point and why.
Anastasia and Her Sisters is a very good book and it should be read. Anastasia and Her Sisters is told from the point of view of Anastasia while still staying historically accurate. The story being told by a character in the story makes it feel like it is fiction, which is more fun and easy to read, but it still gets across the real story of Anastasia because the book is historically accurate. Also the story being told by Anastasia makes the reader connect with her more and this gets the reader more invested and interested in the story. The book Anastasia and Her Sisters also tells about Anastasia's family members. This book gives the reader information about Anastasia's family members, which are not as well know as Anastasia, and I like that because it gives us information about lesser know people.

[Lindsay Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't have any intention of reading this book because I just finished The Lost Crown (which was pretty good) recently and fiction about the Romanovs is often awful. But I also just finished Carolyn Meyer's book about Queen Victoria and found it enjoyable and a quick read so I decided to give this a go. It was enjoyable. The writing was about as good as it gets for this sort of book (YA historical fiction) and it was obviously well researched. I was interested mostly in the parts of the story before the Revolution since The Lost Crown covered the events after so thoroughly, and well. This book covered both, with a longer section which was pre-Revolution.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be to write a book about an important historical event from the point of view of a young girl who was more than likely fairly uninformed about what was going on around her. I liked Meyer's attempts to breach this by having Anastasia read her eldest sister Olga's secret diary. All the girls were prolific diarists, but their diaries were not private. The invention of Olga's secret diary made sense to deliver us important information since she is wildly regarded as the most sensitive sister to what was going on around them and it made sense for Anastasia to read it since she was the mischievous one.

It was a solid book, but often events were rushed.

[NCHS Library]

From the Publisher
There's a heavy price to pay for royalty in this compelling; and true; story of Anastasia Romanov and her fellow grand duchesses of Russia, from an award-winning novelist. Its summer in 1914 and the Romanovs are aboard the Standart, the Russian royal yacht. Tsar Nicholas, Tsaritsa Alexandra, their four daughters, and the youngest child, Tsarevitch Alexei, are sailing to Romania to meet Crown Prince Carol and his parents. It seems like a fairy tale existence for the four grand duchesses, dressed in beautiful clothes, traveling from palace to palace. But it's not. Life inside the palace is far from a fairy tale. The girls; younger brother suffers from an excruciatingly painful and deadly blood disease, and their parents have chosen to shield the Russian people from the severity of the future tsars condition. The secrets and strain are hard on the family, and conditions are equally dire beyond the palace walls.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

3h23m
broke my heart
as a huge fan of the animated adaption of the true story, the movie anastasia has been my favorite for some time but i knew it was a happy ending portrayed and its hard to read a book and get attached to the characters knowing a tragedy will occur, it was a great read - at first hard to get into because of how informative it was being but the author did good in managing a voice for anastasia and keeping it factual
gleb and anastasia's romance particularly touched my heart :( the life that was taken away from this family because of war...

[GMG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining, overall good characterization of the girls, some things seemed a bit far fetched like Olga actually kissing her crush, something in real life would have got him fired in an instant. But as a whole it was easy to ignore and it didnt ruin the book for me. I loved Dmitri´s relationship with Anastasia!
Spoiler alert!
It was very original to use Gleb as a love interest since he was about the same age as Anastasia, one of those far fetched things but it didnt bother me because it was cute.

[Elpida (hopenwonders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really beautiful story about Anastasia Romanov and her family. Through this book we got to see into the lives of the Romanov family. We saw what their lives were like when they were younger and how everything changed gradually until their final moments. The final chapters were truly heartbreaking. The writing felt like we were reading from Anastasia's private diary. I would recommend it to everyone that loves history and especially russian history.

[Asma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anastasia and Her Sisters by Carolyn Meyer had me on a roller coaster in times. I would be studying or flipping through channels and the moment they talk about the last Tzar, I would think, "ITS A SPOILER, I CANT KNOW THIS YET". I particularly liked the concept of how it was made into a story from Anastasia's perspective, held not much bias, and had ACCURATE info. In the end, I'd give it a 4 star rating.

[Finn (theroyaltyreader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is seems a bit of blunt but to me it's a so-so. I didn't easily emotionally connected to the stories as it is written in a simple ways. For those who is still unfamiliar with The Last Romanov, this book give you a quite clear and simple history for readers to gain knowledge.

However the history of The Last Romanov did capture my attention and I feel terribly sad and anger towards those Bolshelviks leaders because this loving family were brutally murdered.

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is called "Anastasia and her siblings", but Anastasia is just a narrator. Her oldest sister Olga seems to be the real focus. There's excerpts from Olga's diary, she focuses on Olga's love life, etc. I made it a quarter of the way in and quit, there's no real difference in story between this and the Royal diaries version of Anastasia's diary, this is just the PG or PG-13 version. But the author wrote both books, so no surprise there.

[Aleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, even though it was a slow read for me. I didn’t understand why though, because it is a subject I am very interested in. Until I realized that I have very likely read this book before and forgot about it. It was starting to seem very familiar. Overall it is a very good book.

[whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

making my way through the royal diaries series based on the ones i remember taking out from the library when i was 10. learned when i finished it that it's not quite the same book anyway, but it made me feel all the anastasia vibes i remembered, primarily the end she and her family got. those damn bolsheviks