August 13, 2024

Was she, or wasn't she?

A fitting title given the latest book I've scored for reviewing purposes is a story of the woman who assumed the identity of Anastasia Romanov, youngest daughter of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas and Alexandra. The whole family was murdered in 1917 during the Russian Revolution, on the orders of Vladimir Lenin, a leading revolutionary who became the founding head of Soviet Russia.

 

I was still in my teens when I read a non-fiction book about Anna Anderson - who claimed to be Anastasia. There were a few Anastasia impersonators, but 'Anna' was the most credible and she convinced a lot of high profile and influential people both in Europe, and the US where she eventually lived. Ultimately she was exposed as a fraud, but it took many years and several court challenges and there were always niggling doubts given her physical similarity to Anastasia, the terrible unexplained scars on her body, and her detailed knowledge of Russia, its language and its nobility.

 

This is a novel though so I’m curious to see how Ariel Lawhon the author – a name unfamiliar to me - handles the known facts about Anna/Anastasia and weaves them into a story that leaves readers guessing - and wondering. Writing the short review for Better Reading could prove an interesting task as well, with care needed to avoid spoilers!

 

By the time I’ve read and reviewed ‘Am I truly Anastasia Romanov’ my next review book should have arrived. Thomas Mayo’s ‘Always was, always will be’ is a non-fiction title and comes courtesy of Independent Australia. Subscribers to IA are also offered an opportunity to put up their hands for the occasional book that is offered for review. I suspect this one could be more challenging since it deals with the aftermath of last year’s Referendum, and the impact it had across the country, but especially for Indigenous Australians. The review can be a bit longer though, so the word count is not quite so strict.


Then there are the books to read for my two my book discussion groups. No shortage of reading matter, and no immediate chance of being able to dip into the ever teetering TBR pile beside my bed either!

Share this post on socials

A red-faced moment

By Anne Layton-Bennett • September 2, 2026
A review of a very readable sci-fi thriller with a Doctor Who element.
Badger the beagle

The secrecy around toxicity testing on animals

By Anne Layton-Bennett • August 4, 2026
An Animals Australia article that highlights the use of toxicity testing of chemicals on animals is still being done around the globe.

Finding a publisher could be getting closer

By Anne Layton-Bennett • July 22, 2026
Attracting the interest of a publisher for this story of a community’s campaign to stop what would have been ‘the world’s fourth largest pulp mill’ being built was never going to be easy, but hoping the first of two 3-minute Literary Speed Dating pitch sessions will prompt at least one of the two publishers to request the full MSS. And preferably both of them. These twice-yearly Perfect Pitch sessions are offered to members of the Australian Society of Authors, and this is the first time I’ve taken advantage of them – mainly because of the need to have a completed MSS before doing so. Three minutes isn’t long to excite the interest of a publisher who is after stories in very specific genres, and who therefore needs to believe your MSS is worth investing the time needed to read it in full. I’m pretty certain I’ve excited the necessary interest, but given Jane will hear the pitches of many more optimistic and talented writers after my morning session today, there are no guarantees. That initial interest might well wane as the day goes on if other writers have written stories that sound far more intriguing – and marketable. One can never forget that aspect of publishing these days: will the book sell. I believe my story will – certainly in Tasmania it definitely will – but a wider Australian readership? That’s an unknown even if my mentor is convinced of the story’s universal appeal.  I’d certainly like to think I’ve caught the zeitgeist wave given the current widespread community unrest over AI data centres, that’s already prompting similar serious opposition, and for many of the same reasons the Tamar Valley’s community opposed the pulp mill. Environmental degradation, threats to public health, water usage – and water shortages in an era of escalating climate extremes – and the constant, relentless noise factor that’s associated with data centres, and AI data centres in particular. I’m crossing my fingers that the second pitch session will be equally positive, and that I could strike it lucky with both publishers requesting to see the full MSS. But I won’t get ahead of myself. I’ll just be keeping all fingers and toes firmly crossed for the next seven days.

Latest from my blog...