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    The Lost Daughter: A Novel
    The Lost Daughter: A Novel
    The Lost Daughter: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Lost Daughter: A Novel

    Written by Gill Paul

    Narrated by Helen Duff

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    If you loved I AM ANASTASIA by Ariel Lawhon you won't want to miss this novel about her sister, Grand Duchess Maria. What really happened to this lost Romanov daughter? A new novel perfect for anyone curious about Anastasia, Maria, and the other lost Romanov daughters, by the author of THE SECRET WIFE.

    1918: Pretty, vivacious Grand Duchess Maria Romanov, the nineteen-year-old daughter of the fallen Tsar Nicholas II, lives with her family in suffocating isolation, a far cry from their once-glittering royal household. Her days are a combination of endless boredom and paralyzing fear; her only respite are clandestine flirtations with a few of the guards imprisoning the family—never realizing her innocent actions could mean the difference between life and death.

    1973: When Val Doyle hears her father’s end-of-life confession, “I didn’t want to kill her,” she’s stunned. So, she begins a search for the truth—about his words and her past. The clues she discovers are baffling—a jewel-encrusted box that won’t open and a camera with its film intact. What she finds out pulls Val into one of the world’s greatest mysteries—what truly happened to the Grand Duchess Maria?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 27, 2019
    ISBN9780062934703
    The Lost Daughter: A Novel
    Author

    Gill Paul

    Gill Paul is an author of historical fiction, specialising in the twentieth century and often writing about the lives of real women. Her novels have topped bestseller lists in the US and Canada as well as the UK and have been translated into twenty languages. The Secret Wife has sold over half a million copies and is a book-club favourite worldwide. She is also the author of several non-fiction books on historical subjects. She lives in London and swims year-round in a wild pond.

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    Reviews for The Lost Daughter

    4.5/5

    60 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The events surrounding the Russian revolution of 1918 are horrific and unimaginable. The loss of the entire Romanoff family was unthinkable to their family and to the world. However, what if one of the daughters had survived? How would they have survived such carnage in the basement of that house and how would they have survived in the tumultuous revolutionary world? Gil Paul weaves an amazing story around grand Duchess Maria and her survival of the Russian revolution and life as an ordinary individual in hiding.
    • 5/5
      It was a beautiful story! I loved the accurate history in it as well!
    • 5/5
      Tales of the Romanovs always tend to fascinate but mostly tend to remind the reader of the horrors of that time in history for the last Russian Tsar and his family. The Lost Daughter is the third book I have read by Ms. Gill and the second in which she offers an alternative ending for one of the Romanov daughters. It’s certainly wonderful to dream of a different finish for these young ladies as the sins of the father are often felt by the children.This book is told in two time periods as so many books today are wont to be; the historical sections are in the early 20th century when the Romanov family was under house arrest in Ekaterinburg. Maria is just entering her teens and doesn’t understand the whys of their forced stay in a place that is so different from what she knew. She is a vivacious, outgoing girl and dreams only of walking outside, being free and marrying and having children some day. She is friendly with the men guarding them and innocently flirtatious. Some guards don’t understand her overtures and others feel for her.In the more modern era of the 1970s a young married woman named Val is suffering in an abusive marriage. She learns her father – who was also abusive – is dying. He keeps calling out in his delirium that he didn’t want to shoot her and the nurses are concerned. Val goes to visit him behind her husband’s back and has no clue what he means but feels it’s just ravings. After his death she learns so much of his history that she did not know and it shocks her.As Val pursues her father’s past it crosses with the last days of the Romanovs.Sometimes a What If? story is just the thing. There is a sad romance about the Romanovs so the thought that one or more of them actually might have survived is dreamy concept. Ms Paul does a very convincing job in her tale of this lost daughter. As is usual with this dual timeline books I was more invested in the historical story than the more modern one but of course, one drives the other.Once I got into this book I couldn’t put it down. The family drama on Val’s side and the ultimate family story on Maria’s side were both very compelling. The description of the deprivations during WWII in Russia were horrifying. Ms. Gill brought all of the time periods to vivid life – whether good or bad. Her writing brings you into the story to experience it with the characters. It’s one of those books where I felt like I was watching a movie in my head rather than reading a book. The words just formed the pictures so easily. It’s at times a very sad book but at others a very hopeful book.
    • 4/5
      I received this book from the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review. The Lost Daughter is the story - an alternate history - of Grand Duchess Maria, one of the four Romanov daughters. It begins with the family under house arrest, after Tsar Nicholas was deposed. Eighteen year old Maria likes to chat with the guards and take their photos, which leads to some being reassigned for getting too close to the family. The alternate history kicks in after the family is shot, with Maria escaping with a guard, marrying, and creating a new family of her own while struggling to stay under the radar in Stalin’s Russia. A parallel storyline set in 1970’s Australia tells the story of an abused woman who leaves her husband and begins exploring the history of the Russian revolution after inheriting some mysterious objects from her father. While the story does require suspension of disbelief to go along with the premise that Maria escaped, the author draws you in, and as the two storylines began to converge, I found myself staying up until 1 AM to finish the book. A worthwhile read.
    • 4/5
      The mystery and fate of the Romanovs are explored in this historical tale and may well be the first to include the perspective of the family's guards and executioners. The tale is told by one of the Romanov daughters who is wounded and somehow survives falling in love with the young man who rescues her. The other side of this mystery is sought after by the daughter of one of the guards who years later on his deathbed is racked with guilt and confesses to a crime that his daughter must decipher. The tandem story works beautifully apart and then later when the families and mystery are finally solved. The writing is lush and rich in detail about the Romanovs last days, the siege of St. Petersburg and the horrible conditions the Russian people had to endure during the war and after. While the fiction lover will appreciate the rich characters and storyline, the historian will appreciate the keen attention to detail and obvious research the author put in. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
    • 5/5
      I loved every moment of this book! Gill Paul uses two separate timelines to bring the story of the Romanov’s to life and to tell the history of Russia from the time of Tsar Nicholas to the present. So far, this is my favorite of her books.In one timeline, the focus is on Maria Romanov. It begins in 1918 and is the story of how she managed to survive execution, her dramatic rescue and how her life unfolded as the years passed.In the second timeline that is set in the 1970’s, the focus is on Valerie Doyle, who is the daughter of a Russian living in Australia. Val is also trapped in an abusive marriage. Before Val’s father dies, he says some things that cause Val to question his past. After he dies and Val is bequeathed his estate, she is able to make some key discoveries about his past.In the beginning, I wasn’t that interested in Val’s story, but once the two timelines began to come together, I could not stop reading. I love how the author brought the two stories together and how the characters had a connection that was not apparent in the beginning.This one pretty much hit on all the things I love in a book: mystery, suspense, romance, history and most of all great characters. I highly recommend!Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and William Morrow for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
    • 3/5
      Historical fiction about the Romanov family, in particular Maria, the middle daughter. The author fictionalizes what could have happened to Maria during the execution of the Romanov family. There are two stories emerging, one involving Maria and the other Val, an abused housewife in Australia whose Russian father has a connection to execution. The storylines elvove throughout the book and converge in the last 100 pages. The writing was easy and simple, and the characters interesting if not fully developed. The historical research is what makes this book worth reading, it doesn't subject the reader to an abundance of detail, but a good overview of the Romanov family and Russian history. There is a section at the end of the book providing the reader with additional resources if they are interested in reading more on the history Russia and the royal family. I enjoyed the story, (read it in 2 days) the writing was simple and easy to read, a complaint for me is the dialogue was a bit 'cheesy', just a personal preference, I like realistic dialogue. I would definitely recommend to a friend for a high level fictional introduction to the Romanovs and Russia.
    • 4/5
      This is an amazing well-researched novel by an author who excels at historic fiction. In this novel, she brings us a story about the Romanov family in Russia who were slaughtered in 1918 by the Red Army who opposed the royal family. There has long been speculation that one of the four daughters survived. This book is a 'what if' story - what if Maria really survived the massacre.The novel begins when the Romanov family is taken from their large estate and locked up under house arrest in a very small home. At 18 years old, Maria was still enjoying life and talked to the men who kept them under guard - some of them her age. When the family is slaughtered, Maria was wounded but not killed. Through the help of someone, she was taken away and ended up living a very different life than what she had grown up in. I enjoyed Maria's part of the story - the author had done so much research on not only the Romanov but also life in Russia during the time period of the book that it all came alive for me.The other time line in this novel is in 1973 in Australia. Val has been estranged from her cruel, Russian father for years when she gets a call from his nurse who tells her that he has been talking about not wanting to kill someone in his past. Her first thought was that he had killed her mother who mysteriously disappeared when she was a child. As she searches for clues over who her father killed she uncovers some confusing clues that tie her father back to Russia where he grew up.I enjoyed both time lines in this novel and really liked the characters of Maria and Val - even though their time periods were very different, their love for their families was strong in both of them. I also enjoyed the Russian setting. I was lucky enough to travel to Russia several years ago and toured the Winter Palace and the Catherine Palace of the Romanov family and Maria's memories of her life living in those places made the story even more special for me.This wonderful novel takes us from Russia to Australia to China with well researched background on how people lived in each part of the world. If you enjoy historical fiction, you don't want to miss this fantastic novel. Now it's time for me to read some of the earlier novels by this author.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 5/5
      Thank you to Library Thing Early Reviewers for this early review copy! I do apologize for the lateness of this review; I deal with chronic migraines and have trouble reading when I have one and have also just been busy lately. I am a historical fiction lover and was excited to read about the Romanov family this time around. This is Maria Romanov's story after she escapes (barely) execution and goes on to live a difficult but full life apart from her Romanov past. I was enthralled with the writing and didn't want to put it down! The story also tracks a woman named Val that is the daughter of someone who knew Maria and I won't reveal anything more on that because I don't want to give anything away. Her life is also marred by tragedy and strife and the two plots match up and intertwine perfectly! Five stars
    • 4/5
      Who hasn't been intrigued by the fate of the Romanov family? Despite bodies and DNA evidence discovered outside of Ekaterinburg, there has long been speculation that one of the royal daughters, generally Anastasia, survived the execution and was rescued. Could anyone has survived the chaotic terror? In Gill Paul's most recent novel, it isn't Anastasia who survived, but Maria. The Lost Daughter is the story of her long life in hiding and the strange connection of this life to an abused wife in Australia.In 1918, when the Romanovs were imprisoned in Ipatiev House, their circumstances were much reduced from what they had once enjoyed. Middle daughter Maria is bored but she is a pretty, charming, and outgoing young woman who cannot help but make friends with their guards, winning the men over with her genuine interest in them and their lives. She is sincerely unable to understand just how much danger she personally and her family collectively are in. And then the unimaginable happens. Her entire family is killed. Miraculously she survives and one of the young guards who she had previously befriended pulls her from the pile of bodies, runs into the woods, and takes her to safety. Peter is a good man and while they are on the run, he and Maria come to fall in love with each other, setting the course for the rest of their lives.The novel jumps from the drama of the last days of tsarist Russia to 1973 in Australia where Val, a housewife who defied her father to marry young and without a school certificate, is trapped in a brutal and abusive marriage. Val has been estranged from her emotionally frigid, Russian father for seventeen years when she receives a call that he has been saying worrying things at his care home. He's been repeating "I didn't want to kill her" and Val is worried that he is referring to her Chinese mother, who disappeared when she was a young teenager. After his death, she is no closer to answers than she was before it but she becomes certain of one thing for sure: that she must take her daughter and leave her husband.The novel moves back and forth between the seemingly unrelated stories of Maria and Val, from the terror of living through Stalin's purges and the horror of the siege of Leningrad to the struggle of a woman who doesn't even have the right to sue for divorce nor to expect child support. As Maria learns to live as one of the people, she is saved time and time again by her enduring love with Peter. She endures terrible hardship and great heartbreak but also the joy of family and the love of children. She knows who she is and the truth of her life even if that knowledge has to remain a secret. Val's life is full of secrets too. But it will take quite an effort to find out the truth of her mother's disappearance and her father's past. The way that the novel ultimately ties Maria's story with Val's is interesting and well done. The parallels between Maria and Val are subtle but there. Both are survivors willing to endure anything in the creating of a life worth living. Each has been victimized in horrible ways but finds the grace and resilience to build on the ashes of their pasts. In the early going, Maria's story is far more engaging than Val's but as the novel continues and Val starts to uncover the answers she seeks, her story takes on added interest as well. I had one small quibble with the novel in that Maria's children have the patronymic Alexandrovich/Alexandrovna when in fact it should have been Petrovich/Petrovna given their father's name is Peter and not Alexander. Other than that mistake, Paul has done an amazing amount of research and integrated the vast history of Russia and the Soviet Union into the narrative without ever making the reader feel as if they are reading a dry historical account. In fact, despite numbering almost 500 pages, I read this in one sitting, gripped by my interest in Maria and invested in finding out how Val's life connected to this Russian Grand Duchess. I predict that other historical fiction fans will thoroughly enjoy this alternate history and perhaps it will even leave them wishing that one of the daughters, and this daughter in particular, had escaped.
    • 2/5
      This book contains two points of view. The first is Grand Duchess Maria and begins when her family is sent to Yekaterinburg and follows her unlikely survival and the ensuring years. The second pov is Val, an abused women in the 1970's. On her father's deathbed, he confesses to Val - "I didn't want to kill her." While Val struggles to leave her husband, she searches for the truth of her father.I thought this book was a bit mediocre. It was extremely predictable and a bit slow moving. The time transitions were not handled very well and large periods of time were glossed over. Overall, not a book I would re-read or recommend.
    • 4/5
      *I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*I've read a number of historical novels based on the premise of one of the Romanovs surviving the family's assassination, but few have been as good as this one. Unlike other approaches to this story, this novel presents the idea of Maria Romanov not only surviving, but choosing to stay in Soviet Russia and live a quiet life. Her story is told alongside that of Val, an Australian woman, who becomes interested in the Romanovs after she starts to dig into her own father's past. Fun reading, which blends the facts and fantasy of the Russian royal family into a compelling novel.
    • 4/5
      The Lost Daughter, which comes out in August 2019, was received by me as part of the Early Reviewer program. It deals with two women, both of whom could be considered lost daughters: Grand Duchess Maria, the last czar's middle child, and an Australian woman, Val Scott, who the reader first meets in 1973. The story begins in 1918 with the execution of the czar's family and friends, except that daughter Tatiana had visited her lover that night and missed out on the excitement, and Maria was saved by a couple of love-sick guards after having been shot and bayoneted. She then spent the rest of her life on the run in Russia with her rescuer who became who beloved husband. Val, the daughter of a Russian father and Chinese mother, married an abuser after her mother disappeared with no word when she was 13-years-old. Her father was uncommunicative, and she knew little about him. Although the starting premise of Maria's survival demands that the reader suspend belief, the story flows well. Readers unfamiliar with Russian history should not have difficulty following the story as the author has added sufficient explanation. The chapters dealing with the siege of Leningrad and the suffering of its residents are particularly well-done. The reader comes away with a good sense of the magnitude of the betrayal of that city by the Soviet government. Lovers of historical fiction should definitely enjoy this novel.
    • 5/5
      Intriguing, educational, emotionally stirring and wonderfully written! Thank you for your research and sharing this with us.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed this book and plan to read other’s by this author.