The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar (A Romanov Novel, #1)

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 claims to be the last living witness to the Romanovs’ brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family. Does he hold the key to the many questions surrounding the family’s murder? Historically vivid and compelling, The Kitchen Boy is also a touching portrait of a loving family that was in many ways similar, yet so different, from any other.

"Ingenious...Keeps readers guessing through the final pages." —USA Today

• ISBN10: 0142003816
• ISBN13: 9780142003817
• Publish Date: 27 January 2004
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Penguin USA
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142003817

Reviews

[elysium]

After Misha’s wife dies, he feels it’s his time soon and records his memories about what happened in 1918 and leaves the tape to his granddaughter Kate.

Misha, or Leonka as he was called, went into captivity with the Romanov family and worked as their kitchen boy. He becomes involved in the family’s escape plans and comes to care for the family. The same day that the Romanovs are executed, Leonka is removed from the family but manages to escape. He runs back to the house and sees what happened to Romanovs.
After Misha’s death Kate becomes convinced that there is something wrong with Misha’s story.

I have to say I was bit disappointed with this but it wasn’t bad either. It was kinda slow going, which isn’t surprising since they were arrested after all. But I couldn’t connect with the characters at all. They didn’t have enough time and most of the book we hear Leonka’s thoughts about the family.

There we used lot of Russian words and sentenced and even if English translation was after it, it was really confusing and annoying. I mean since they’re Russian one would think they speak Russian, right?

And I didn’t like that last secret in the end at all. I didn’t see the need for it and why a person who we haven’t heard about? I’m trying not to vent it out here for spoilers but I was so annoyed.

It was quite enjoyable but I guess I had higher expectations for it.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Leonid Sednev, the kitchen boy to the Romanovs during their time in the Ipatiev House, was the only survivor of that fateful night. Falling into oblivion afterward. After his wife May's death, he sits down with a tape recorder to record his story for his only remaining relative, his granddaughter, in order to preserve his memory.

From the beginning I knew there was a secret even deeper repressed than just the fall of the Romanovs. His dear May had a vast collection of Fabergé eggs an item Alexandra Fyodorovna, Tsarina collected. The couple's only child, a son had hemophilia, a disorder that the Tstarevich Alexei Nikolaevich had. And what happened to the missing remains of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria? It just didn't add up.

Well, I don't mean to gloat, but I was correct. Not all was there that met the eye. Although there was a twist that even I didn't see. I got so engrossed in the families living conditions and means to escape that I forgot about the elderly man in 1998 and my impatience for the story's ending raised each time he pressed the stop button on his recorder. Even though their demise was known from the beginning, it does not deter the reader from pursuing the conclusion. It was a bit like reading Anne Frank's Diary, you know that she is taken to the concentration camps and believes everyone is good at heart, but you still have to read what she has to say. Granted, this was a fictitious portrayal but had the same effect.

Like Anne Frank's Holocaust, I have always held a great fascination. with the Romanovs. Perhaps because of the political essences, but I think it is more about their fall from grace and security, their fairy tale of a life to end in the House of Special Purposes, ushered down 23 steps to meet assassins in the basement. But most of all I find their lives intriguing because after almost 100 years their deaths are just as mysterious as they were on July 17, 1918