Published: 2022
Author: Carolyn Tara O’Neil
Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Fantasy, Retellings, Fiction, War, Thriller
Audience (Grade Levels): Middle Grade to Teen / Grades 7-10
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 Stars)
Goodreads Link: Daughters of a Dead Empire
Triggers: Death of family members, violence
Review By: Gina Iorio
Publisher’s Summary:
An alternate history set during the Russian Revolution.
Russia, 1918: With the execution of Tsar Nicholas, the empire crumbles and Russia is on the edge of civil war—the poor are devouring the rich. Anna, a bourgeois girl, narrowly escaped the massacre of her entire family in Yekaterinburg. Desperate to get away from the Bolsheviks, she offers a peasant girl a diamond to take her as far south as possible—not realizing that the girl is a communist herself. With her brother in desperate need of a doctor, Evgenia accepts Anna’s offer and suddenly finds herself on the wrong side of the war.
Anna is being hunted by the Bolsheviks, and now—regardless of her loyalties—Evgenia is too.
Review:
I’ve always been interested in Russian history so when this book was recommended to me I had to read it. I was instantly drawn into Daughters of a Dead Empire which takes place right after Tsar Nicholas and his family are executed. The author has a way of drawing the reader into the story with great details, but also making the story fast-paced and suspenseful.
Anna is a young woman from the noble class with a dark secret she must hide at all costs. Evgenia is a farmer who sides with the Bolsheviks and reluctantly helps Anna, but the price could be too high, and Evgenia begins to have regrets. Anna is loyal to the White Army while Evgenia is loyal to the Red Army. Both girls have vastly different perspectives; they often fight over which view is right, but as the story unfolds we see that neither of them are 100% right, and neither are innocent. Can the girls work together to help Anna, or will Evgenia betray her friend? Students will enjoy this novel if they enjoy a suspenseful read and enjoy historical fiction.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- World History & Global Studies: Offers an excellent lens into the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War of 1918, illustrating the socioeconomic fractures between the royal/bourgeois classes and the working peasant populations.
- Political Science & Ideology: Provides a concrete framework for classrooms to explore the clashing philosophies of the Red Army (Bolsheviks/communism) and the White Army (monarchists/capitalists/anti-Bolshevik forces), showing the gray areas within extreme political shifts.
- Language Arts / Creative Writing: Serves as a great example of alternate histories and folklore retellings, tracking how historical mysteries (like the survival rumors of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov) can be remixed into a dual-POV thriller.
Extension Activity / Library Application:
- “Red vs. White” Perspective Charting: Have students track the debates between Anna and Evgenia throughout their journey. Ask students to build a comparative chart detailing how their respective upbringings shaped their worldviews, analyzing the reviewer’s note that “neither of them are 100% right, and neither are innocent.”
- Anastasia Retelling & Myth Research: Pair this reading with a history module on the Romanov family and the execution at Yekaterinburg. Have students research why the “surviving Anastasia” myth persisted for decades in popular culture, and ask them to write a short pitch or scene creating their own historical retelling of an unsolved mystery.
Diversity & Representation:
The book provides important socioeconomic and historical equity by balancing the perspectives of two young women from vastly different stations in life. By giving equal narrative weight to a wealthy bourgeois girl and a struggling communist peasant, O’Neil subverts the typical romanticization of the aristocracy found in many Romanov retellings, validating the real grievances of the working class while examining the human cost of violent political revolutions.
Readalikes:
- Romanov by Nadine Brandes
- The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming
- Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick
