I Was Anastasia: A Novel

Winterstein, Germany. November 1946: Anna only has a knife to defend herself from the trespassing soldier, who is a Bolshevik in the Red Army. She came to Winterstein after fleeing Hannover. She has heard that Romanov friends and supporters have been hunted down and assassinated. She threatens to kill the man, who is trying to assault her, and he leaves her alone. The new Soviet Union has been forcibly repatriating Russian nationals, and Anna worries she could be exposed. She wants a place “where she can disappear forever” (105).

Three years earlier: Hannover, Germany. October 8, 1943: Anna realizes that bombs are falling near her apartment building. She sees a parachute flare and dresses quickly, then she puts her keepsakes into a suitcase. She runs for the cellar along with the other residents. The next morning, they find that the apartment building is flattened. The neighborhood is destroyed. Only the Marstall Gate still stands.

Cherepovets, Russia. August 1: Gleb sends Anastasia a pear, which brings her to tears. She thinks that she would like to be unemotional, like her great-grandmother Queen Victoria. She feels she’s being ripped from her life. The train travels east, carrying 350 soldiers along with the family’s four servants: Botkin, their physician; Dova, their lady’s maid; the cook; and Alexey Trupp, her father’s valet.