The House of Special Purpose

Author John Boyne turns his talent to the Russian Revolution, focusing on the family of Czar Nicholas and a family of post-revolution ÄmigrÄs. Stefan Rudnicki narrates from the perspective of Georgy, a former bodyguard of the royal family, as the story personalizes the lead-up to and the aftereffects of the Russian Revolution. Rudnicki' s performance is strong despite a bit of inconsistency in his accents for some of the British characters. His performance makes listeners feel both the joy and the pain of Georgy's early life in Russia and in his self-imposed exile. J.L.K. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

February 11, 2013
Boyne reworks perennial rumors that Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Russia’s last czar, escaped the Bolshevik firing squad that killed her family, in an overstuffed romantic novel elevated by the author’s prose gifts but fatally lacking in credibility. Early chapters involving narrator Georgy Daniilovich Jachmenev’s boyhood in a tiny Russian village are convincing, but when he’s unexpectedly chosen as a companion for the imperial heir, Alexei, the plot veers into highly improbable territory. On Georgy’s first day in St. Petersburg, he locks eyes with the 15-year-old Anastasia, feeling an immediate connection to her; glimpses Alexandra, the czar’s wife, privately conferring with her evil mentor, Rasputin; and enjoys an intimate chat with Nicholas II himself, who chooses to tell an uneducated 16-year-old country boy about his heavy responsibilities. These flashbacks alternate with Georgy’s life in London, where he and his wife, Zoya, have lived for two decades after fleeing the Russian Revolution. Readers who know little about Russian history may find this novel suspenseful, but others will be better off with Boyne’s 2012 novel, The Absolutist, which sustains a taut, unsentimental plot without the romantic excess that mars this effort. Agent: Bonnie Nadell, Frederick Hill Bonnie Nadell Agency.