It was released last year, and I brought a copy on break in college from WH Smiths because there was £3 off, and finished it on the bus! It's very short, but quite entertaining, here is the review I have written for Amazon, but it will probably take about a year to get published there so I'll share it with you here:
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I brought and finished this book in one day, so as you can guess it is a very quick read, and I would pay no more than £5.99 for it. It was however an entertaining and relatively accurate pseudo diary of Russia's last born Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna.
For historical accuracy, there are some pitfalls but it is generally well researched and seemed to communicate accurate views of the imperial family, albeit they stereotyped (Tsar as weak for example.) The most annoying historical inaccuracy is the photo on the back - it is of Maria, not Anastasia, it is quite bad that this was not noticed, but the photo in question is commonly mislabelled. Other mistakes are that it has Tatiana's birthday in January, when it was June 11th, but these points are only there to annoy die-hard Romanov buffs, and do not effect the experience for the general reading public.
This may be a good tool for introducing a child to Russian history, although the age range 9 - 12 on the back is rather misleading, as the book deals with the final days of the Imperial Family in captivity, not a particularly child friendly subject.
An odd book, dealing with too depressing a subject matter to be an easy read for children, but often too juvenile and simplistic to satisfy adults. But this in-betweenee (I'm 17) certainly enjoyed it.
- Rachael -