The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar

by Robert Alexander

Book Overview

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters)

Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov as seen through the eyes of their young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142003816
• ISBN13: 9780142003817
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

entertaining but just too far fetched for me, for historical fiction

I love a good historical fiction book but this was just so far fetched, I was ready to be finished with it. The Romanov family story is fascinating and wouldn't we all love for the true story to have ended differently, and for me, the same goes for this book. Not terrible, but just not my favorite.

True life mystery.......

Even though this is a fiction book, it is very detailed and at times I actually believed it could have happened. This is the story of the Romanov imprisonment in Siberia after the fall of their reign. It is told from the point of view of the Kitchen boy who saw it all. The ending has a unexpected twist. This book is meticuoulsly researched and detailed and is a great historical novel! If you are interested in the Romanovs or just love historical novels, this is for you!

Based on facts and the fiction is plausible.

The best historical fiction is based on facts and the fictional parts are plausible. This book has all of that and is very well written. It is based on the last days of the last Tsar of all the Russians. After hundreds of years of being in absolute power, the last Romanov ruler had been deposed and is being held under house arrest by the Bolsheviks. Leonka, the kitchen boy in the house, who waits on the royal family, is supposedly telling the story and they become mutual friends in their last days. He describes their mannerisms, speech and approach to life in a way that is consistent with all of the historical record surrounding these tragic figures. The Red revolution is under siege, and the city where the Romanovs are being held is about to fall to the White counterrevolutionaries. Therefore, the Reds have decided to kill the royal family and completely destroy their bodies. That way nothing will be left that could be used in the construction of a shrine to their memory. When the time comes for the execution, Leonka is sent away, but he knows what is happening and he follows the truck carrying their bodies. One of the Tsar's daughters falls off the truck and is still alive. He pulls her to safety and gives her aid. However, throughout the tale, there is always an undercurrent of falsehood, and you are constantly wondering what really happened. In the end, all is revealed and it was not what I thought it was. Alexander has crafted a superb tale with an unexpected ending. I strongly recommend this book as it presents Tsar Nicholas and his family as they were and the Red revolution as it was and is captivatingly written.

The end of the Romanovs?

This extremely well written novel reads like a true life adventure story. It's a tale of the murder of the Russian imperial family in 1918 in their place of exile in Siberia, told by one of the people who was present at the time. The plot ranges from revolutionary times up to the present day, and involves a deep, dark mystery: why were two of the bodies never discovered? The reader is quickly drawn into the story, and the writing is such that, even though you know the terrible fate which awaits the last Tsar and his family, you keep hoping the ending will be different. There are a few twists at the end, which brings the tale to a bittersweet conclusion. Highly entertaining and sobering reading, and I recommend it very much!

I just couldn't put it down!

I loved this book. It combines the best of the historical novel, non-fiction and the suspense story - I couldn't put it down. Alexander clearly has a masterful grasp of Russian history, and he is able to make the reader care about the destiny of the last Tsar and his family, without in any way apologizing for the grave mistakes they made. This is one of those books that broadens your horizons and that you think about for a long time after finishing it.