Fictional Books on Rescue and Survival from Ekaterinburg

[Olga Bernice]

Okay, I'd like to know if this book is worth the money it costs. It sounds pretty good, but I can hardly find any information on the internet! It's about the ONLY book I'm interested in that's not on Goodreads. Has anybody ever read it? Was it really good, good, okay, pretty bad or terrible? HELP!

[helenazar]

Well, it looks like you can get a used copy for a penny! http://www.amazon.com/Devoted-Friends-Joe-Poyer/dp/0689112513/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312400063&sr=8-1

[helenazar]

You can also get it from B&N for pretty cheap http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Devoted-Friends/Joe-Poyer/e/9780689112515?r=1&cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-GwEz7vxblVU-_-10:1  May be worth just buying it since it's so cheap. I tried to find a summary or a review, but couldn't.. Wrote to amazon, lets see what happens.. Looks like it may be good, or it may be terrible, it can basically go either way!

[Olga Bernice]

A penny? Shipping would cost more than that!

Yeah - I couldn't find a summary either. Everywhere I looked, there was nothing!

[Laura Mabee]

According to Google Books, the plot is:

"William Hughes Evans, an American diplomat, falls in love with Tatiana Romanova, a daughter of the Czar, and the two of them must flee across Russia to escape the revolution"

http://books.google.com/books/about/Devoted_friends.html?id=pqBGmMZG494C

[helenazar]

According to Google Books, the plot is:

"William Hughes Evans, an American diplomat, falls in love with Tatiana Romanova, a daughter of the Czar, and the two of them must flee across Russia to escape the revolution"

http://books.google.com/books/about/Devoted_friends.html?id=pqBGmMZG494C

Oh god   Thanks Laura!

[Sunny]

Another "Romanov survival" then?

[Olga Bernice]

I suppose so (and another love story between the one of the daughters and a man, too!)

[Elisabeth]

Isn't it weird how Romanov novelists tend to break down? If they're not writing about Anastasia (big if!), they tend to focus either on Olga --if they're women, or on Tatiana -- if they're men. Somebody could probably write a really dubious dissertation about all this. Olga, sensitive, witty, prone to angry outbursts, not a beauty but attractive nonetheless, appeals to girls and women on an emotional basis, whereas Tatiana, the auburn-haired, almond-eyed beauty, has sex appeal (even though, catty remark, she had an unusually long waist and short legs -- face it, those ample Edwardian skirts really hid a host of faults), hence men's penchant for making her their fictional heroine.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, Maria has on occasion been a heroine, too, but the overall trend seems obvious to me.

[Sunny]

Elizabeth, love your description of OT. It's syntetical and goes to the point. BRAVA!

[Elisabeth]

Thank you so much, Sunny! I was afraid I was really going to offend a lot of people with my remarks. Still, I think that if the OTMA sweepstakes were just simply a beauty contest, then Maria should win that contest hands down. Let's face it, she was gorgeous even in Tsarskoe Selo in spring 1917, after measles, after a near death experience, with a shaved head.

To my mind there's no more touching a picture of the Russian imperial family in captivity, than that photograph of Maria Nikolaevna with a shaved head, in a long dark skirt and a white blouse, facing the camera directly, a young Russian soldier (her captor! but he might just as easily have been her friend) at her side.

People have a lot of emotional energy invested in these young women, for various reasons. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. We all come to an awareness of ourselves and human suffering in different ways and at different speeds.

[helenazar]

Isn't it weird how Romanov novelists tend to break down? If they're not writing about Anastasia (big if!), they tend to focus either on Olga --if they're women, or on Tatiana -- if they're men. Somebody could probably write a really dubious dissertation about all this. Olga, sensitive, witty, prone to angry outbursts, not a beauty but attractive nonetheless, appeals to girls and women on an emotional basis, whereas Tatiana, the auburn-haired, almond-eyed beauty, has sex appeal (even though, catty remark, she had an unusually long waist and short legs -- face it, those ample Edwardian skirts really hid a host of faults), hence men's penchant for making her their fictional heroine.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, Maria has on occasion been a heroine, too, but the overall trend seems obvious to me.

Elisabeth, I think you are pretty much on the money LOL

[Alixz]

But remember that Marie looked astonishingly like Olga when she came of an age to put her hair up.  So was Olga beautiful or Marie just attractive?

[Sunny]

IMHO all the girls were beautiful: i think the only difference between Olga and Maria was that olga has a more difficult carachter and this was reflected in her face. While Maria was so open to other people, and i think this gave a particular light to her eyes and face. But phisically speaking, they were much alike, except - of course - for eyes and nose.

[Ian (UK)]

   I find it strange that Tatiana was also Ms Ericksons choice as a survivor. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, though didn't she have the knowledge of the 1991 discovery. She also wrote very little of events after Tobolsk, maybe that was avoided because she must have been aware of this book, (I'm thinking copyright law). Anyway no matter what the date I would have picked any one of the little pair as my escapee.
   I wish we had more fictional survivor books, especially ones that do not end in disaster. Surely there must be one that does not contain the usual drug dependency, seduction, misery, etc. I mean if you are going to write that type of novel, at least give your hero/heroine a better life at the end.
   I'll give this one a try & I hope for the best.