I Was Anastasia: A Novel

The narrator recalls that, over the years, countless people have asked if she is truly Anastasia Romanov. She says that she will make a “confession,” and when she is finished, the listener “will have the right” to say who she is (1).

Charlottesville, Virginia. February 17, 1970: Anna, a woman in her seventies, thinks back on how she threw herself off a bridge in Berlin 50 years ago. In the present, her husband, Jack, knows nothing of this. He is nervous as they wait for news of the verdict in Anna’s court case, which will determine whether the German court recognizes her claim that she is Anastasia Romanov. Hers has been the longest-running case in German history. Anna thinks of how she married Jack at the behest of her best friend, Gleb, who has since passed away. It is a marriage of convenience.

Prince Frederick calls from Germany, and Anna is angry at the memory of him ordering her pets to be killed and burned. She refuses to speak to him, so Jack does. Frederick conveys that the verdict is that Anna’s case is non liquet, or “not proven.” Jack has prepared a celebration, confident of victory, and disappointed, he cancels it.