Anastasia, or as she is affectionately known by her family, “Nastya”, tries to survive the revolution of the old Bolsheviks together with her family. The history books say that she died. But they don’t even know half of what happened. And of course you won’t believe it anyway. Magic.
Her father gave her a very special assignment; She has to smuggle a very old spell into her exile in Siberia and hide it from the Bolsheviks. This spell is their only and last resort. But Nastya has not yet been properly trained and stumbles more over the spells than she can perform them properly. Her fear of failure is almost greater than the growing fear of her affection for Zash. Zash the soldier guarding her. Zash, the soldier who doesn’t behave like the other Bolsheviks. Zash with that irresistible smile. And maybe. Just maybe, maybe he likes her too.
Nadine Brandes enchants us with a slightly different point of view and such a fluent writing style that you simply have to read through the whole book in one go, even if you already know the story.