It wasn’t long after reading Gill Paul’s The Secret Wife, that I learned of her second Romanov conspiracy novel. As previously stated, I AM HERE FOR IT. I don’t care what the premise is, or how far-fetched, I will eat it right up.
In this novel, Paul focuses the story on Maria (which, much like in The Secret Wife, it’s so fascinating to read a theory about someone other than Anastasia).
Half of this novel focuses on Maria herself, starting just before the family massacre in 1918. It theorizes that her relationships with a couple of the guards will set in motion a chain of events that end up resulting in her rescue and her life being saved. We are then taken on a journey over the next several decades as Maria must make a new life, never letting anyone know that she is a Romanov.
Maria’s story is interspersed with the more modern day story of Val, a woman in Australia who is living in an abusive marriage. On her father’s deathbed, he utters the words, “I didn’t want to kill her.” This sends Val on a search to find out what he meant, to leave her marriage, to search for her long-lost mother, and to provide some answers regarding the Romanov mystery that Maria lived a world away.
This theory is even less plausible than her story about Tatiana, and even hypothesizes that BOTH could have escaped that night with their lives. We obviously know that this isn’t true, but I prefer to live in this suspended reality where we don’t have to face the fact that all those children were murdered at point blank.
Another great read for any Romanov enthusiasts out there 🙂