From the bestselling author of The Russian Concubine come a sweeping epic of love and courage, revenge and heartache in the last days of the Romanov empire in Russia.
The story starts in the year 1910, young Valentina Ivanova charms St Petersburg's aristocracy with her classic Russian beauty and her talent as a pianist. But she scandalises society when she begins a romance with a Danish engineer. He brings to her life a passion and an intimacy she has never known. Unbending in their opposition, her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count.
At the same time, Russia is bound for rebellion. The Tsar, the Duma, and the Bolsheviks are at each other's throats and Valentina is forced to make a choice that changes her life for ever...
The moment I came across the word favourite on second page, I was thrilled because I know the book was printed in UK using the British English spelling instead of the American English which I still cannot accept for the omission of the letter "u" from words such as favourite, neighbour, colour, etc. Besides the spelling, the fonts are quite big and it's easy on the eyes where you still can read at arm's length. The cover is beautiful.
If you think this is just a romance book, you're wrong! The love story is not the main plot here and you will be hooked from the very first line on the first page as I did and I couldn't stop until 170 pages later when I had to have my lunch after reading from 10.00am till 2.30pm on the first day of reading.
Overall, it is a good book and I enjoyed it very much. As I read, I imagine the scenes as though it's a movie on the big screen and I believe it would be a good movie to watch but as always with movies adapted from books, it's impossible to shoot the whole book in details for many reasons other than the duration of the film and most importantly the budget. That is why I love to read as you get all the details that a movie can't possibly captured.
455 pages
RM37.50
Publisher: Sphere
Popular Bookstore
