What if . . .? What if . . . one of the witnesses to the brutal murders of the Romonov family were still alive today? What would he tell us? Would he describe to us the horrors of that fateful, fearful night in 1918 when the Romonovs and their attendants were taken to the basement of the "House of Special Purpose" and executed? Would he reveal to us what became of the Romonov jewels—jewels worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Would he explain to us why the bodies of two of the Tsar's children were missing from the hidden mass grave in which the executed were buried and lay until they were discovered in 1991? What if . . .?

1918, The House of Special Purpose

It is here that the Romonov family and their attendants are imprisoned following the Bolshevik Revolution. And it is here—through the eyes and memories of the kitchen boy Leonka—that we witness the end of a dynasty.

It was warm as only Siberia could be in the summer—humid, buggy, stifling . . . For two weeks the former Emperor had been asking—just a single window, just a little fresh air, that was all the former Tsar wanted for his family . . . I can't imagine what it must have been like for him, for Nikolai Aleksandrovich. One day he commands one-sixth of the world, the next he isn't even in charge of a single pane of glass.

And so they lived—behind palisades and locked and limed windows, never knowing from one hour to the next what would befall them. We come to know, in an intimate way, the personalities of the Romonovs. Nikolai, the devoted husband and father, lover of order, watches quietly, thoughtfully, as his world spins out of control. Aleksandra, whom we think aloof, is instead compassionate and caring toward the ill while at the same time sewing like a madwoman, hiding her beloved jewels in her daughter's corsets and the hems of clothing. A devoted and loving family they are.

In the midst of the uncertainty and suffering there are also simple pleasures: a walk in the garden, a cooling rain, a basket of fresh, brown eggs and a chetvert of milk, a book to read.

The end, it seems, is slow in coming, but arrive it does. And down the 23 steps the family and their attendants walk, down to the basement. The horrific execution is graphically described in minute detail.

But that is not the end of this story—not by far. Things are not as they seem. Twists and turns await the reader in this meticulously plotted, beautifully written novel.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by K.J. Wagner, Education Oasis