What the blurb says…

In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land …

… Rosie lived peacefully in Moscow and her mother told her fairy tales. One summer night, all that came abruptly to an end when her father and sister were gunned down. Now, Rosie’s only inheritance from her reclusive mother is a notebook full of eerie, handwritten tales, but there is another story lurking between the lines.

Currently studying at Oxford University, Rosie has a fiance who knows nothing of her former life. Desperate for answers to the questions that have tormented her, Rosie returns to her homeland and uncovers a devastating family history which spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin’s purges and beyond. At the heart of those answers stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actions reverberate across the century …

What do I say?

Historical fiction is an obsession of mine. The ability to travel into the past and peer into the windows of those who walked before us. To breathe the same air and taste their food. To hear their stories and sing their songs. The sensory details within this novel are plentiful and perfectly placed, transporting the reader to Russia in all her many guises.

The Porcelain Doll is an example of historical fiction at its very best. The stories of Rosie and Tonya guide the reader through some of the most turbulent and fascinating times in modern history. The enormity of change and it’s far reaching consequences are told through pitch perfect prose, run through with empathy and understanding.

And The Porcelain Doll embodies the concept of history in its very truest sense. The narrative of both women, the weaving of their tales and the symbolism used, all conspire to illustrate how history is both around and within us.

Each twist, each turn, each layer of the novel demonstrates how the stories of the past lie at our core. How they wait to be discovered, retold and shape identities far into the future.

This novel is a triumph, waiting to be discovered. Published by Allison & Busby on 17th February, it is a must read for 2022.

Rachel x