I Was Anastasia: A Novel

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did your perceptions of Anna shift over the course of the novel? At what point, if at all, did you begin to doubt her story?

2. The novel relays Anna’s story in reverse chronological order. How did this structural choice affect your engagement? 

3. If you’ve read other novels by Lawhon—such as Code Name Hélène (2020) or The Frozen River (2023)—how does I Was Anastasia compare? What similarities do you see in theme and characterization?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Anna claims the identity of Anastasia to ensure security for herself. Can you think back to a time when you affected someone else’s behaviors or mannerisms, even briefly? What motivated you? 

2. Anna’s four treasured objects are personal anchors amid a world that suspects and doubts her. What are any keepsakes or heirlooms that hold special meaning for you? What stories do they help preserve?

3. The novel invites readers to question their personal investment in Anna’s story. Can you think of another story that you like to believe is true, even if its actual truth is uncertain?

4. Anastasia is coming of age during an immense crisis. Have you ever experienced a large life change at a critical point in your own development? How did you handle it?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Lawhon says in the Author’s Note that “there are two sides to this story: one shimmering with privilege and affluence and nobility, the other blunted by sorrow and privation and neglect” (326). How does the novel depict privilege as well as privation across both Anna and Anastasia’s lives? How does wealth alter how people react to Anna?

2. In the scene in which Ingrid Bergman interviews Anna, Bergman notes that she gets paid for lying while Anna is punished. What commentary is the novel making about fiction? Why does Bergman get an Academy Award for her performance and Anna is “a vulgar adventuress” (221), in the words of Pierre Gilliard? 

3. In what ways are both Anastasia and Anna’s lives shaped by war? You might compare their experiences to other novels depicting women in wartime, like When We Had Wings (2023) by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, and Susan Meissner; The Women (2024) by Kristin Hannah; or The Rose Code (2021) by Kate Quinn.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the book’s narrative structure—one timeline moving forward, and one moving backward—shape your interpretation of the characters and their choices? 

2. Discuss and compare the turning points in the two narrators’ arcs: Anastasia, offered escape, chooses to stay with her family; Anna, in the safety of Dalldorf, decides to claim to be Anastasia. How do these choices illustrate each woman’s relationship to identity, loyalty, and survival?

3. Discuss the ways Lawhon constructs and perpetuates suspense around the question of whether Anna is telling the truth. What strategies or moments in the narrative were particularly effective?

4. What clues does the narrative provide about Anna’s motives for her deception? Do you believe she is intentionally deceptive, deluded, or simply performing a role others projected onto her? 

5. Anna treasures four objects tied to the Romanovs: a photo album, a religious icon, a chess set, and a paper knife. Discuss the symbolic value of each.

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine a scenario in which Anastasia really did escape and lived out her life as Anna Anderson. Write a journal entry in her voice after she receives the court’s verdict at the beginning of the novel.

2. Imagine yourself as an imposter who takes on a famous identity. Who would you claim to be and why? Fill out a dating profile as your character.

3. Watch the 1956 film Anastasia starring Ingrid Bergman. Compare that version of Anastasia’s life to the story Lawhon constructs for Anna. How does the film answer the book’s questions about identity, memory, and the impacts of trauma?