THE YOUNGEST LADY-IN-WAITING

by Mara Kay ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 1971

Latter-day ladies' fare watered down for those girls who are simply dying to know what befell Masha (1968). Graduating in 1824 from the Smolni Institute in St. Petersberg, that orphan of 18 whose only friends are gay Sophie Brozin and the birch tree outside her dormitory window embarks on a new life as the youngest member of the suite of the gracious Grand Duchess Alexandra. Before the story ends the Grand Duchess will become the Empress and Masha will find her allegiance to the royal family challenged by her fiance Sergei who belongs to the Freedom Society dubbed the Decembrists by history. He is killed during the abortive revolution with whose ideals Masha sympathizes abstractly while deploring its tactics, and just after she has told him so; Sophie's husband Mark survives the violence sparked by the ascension of Grand Duke Nicholas to the throne, but he is sentenced to twenty years' hard labor in Siberia for his treasonous participation. Sophie follows him and Masha visits her with Michael, Sergei's brother, to whom she's now happily married: they live in the country near Pushkin who is but one of the (not very) real people tapped for window-dressing. . . . It's a chintzy romance a la russe, guaranteed to wet the eyes and dry up the mind.

Pub Date: Aug. 31, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION