A select five of us discussed this book on June 9th.
To say there were mixed feelings is not putting it too strongly!
However, there was general agreement that we all enjoyed the historical part of the story, especially as it is based on factual events running parallel with the Crimean War. None of us had realised that Russia had been fighting on two fronts during this time. It was interesting to learn about the history of Dagestan and Chechnia.
Imam Shamil lived until 1871 and is still revered as a learned and spiritual leader.
The governess Anna Drancy did indeed write her memoirs after being released and her description of the kidnapping tallies with the book. Apparently, other family members and house guests were also kidnapped.
Anna Chavchavadze went on to have nine children with David, who sadly never managed to raise the funds in his lifetime to take back their estate, having mortgaged it as part of the ransom money.
There was disagreement over the style of writing. Some of us had trouble relating to the current-day characters and found the writing very ‘flat’. There wasn’t enough background to understand what drove Natasha, Malak and Oz. Others were very much enjoying the read and had a clearer picture in their heads!
The whole identity issue reminded us of the previous book, The Vanishing Half. Many of the characters struggled to find their real ‘home’, especially Natasha, torn between her Sudanese and Russian roots, and Jamaledin who found he preferred the ‘civilisation’ of St Petersburg to that of his homeland in the mountains. We never really got to the bottom of Oz’s issues.
No surprise that much of our conversation revolved around the current situation in Russia/Ukraine and how history (sadly) continues to repeat itself.
Would we recommend it?
Even if only for the interesting history, yes.
The next book is The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell and we shall meet on August 18th at 20:00 hours in The Hundred.
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