Berlin, 1922: A city of fading beauty plagued by unemployment and rampant inflation becomes home to a growing number of refugees. Esther Solomonova survives by working as secretary to her fellow Russian �migr�, "Prince"Nick, a scheming cabaret owner. Always on the prowl for a deal, Nick smells money when he hears of a woman in an asylum claiming to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the Russian Czar, the lone member of her family to escape assassination by the Bolsheviks. Enlisting a highly suspicious Esther, ...
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Berlin, 1922: A city of fading beauty plagued by unemployment and rampant inflation becomes home to a growing number of refugees. Esther Solomonova survives by working as secretary to her fellow Russian �migr�, "Prince"Nick, a scheming cabaret owner. Always on the prowl for a deal, Nick smells money when he hears of a woman in an asylum claiming to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the Russian Czar, the lone member of her family to escape assassination by the Bolsheviks. Enlisting a highly suspicious Esther, Nick plans to prepare the woman--known as Anna Anderson--to claim the Romanov fortune. But Anna is being hunted. Or so she claims. At first Esther believes Anna's fears to be just in her imagination--until innocent people around them begin to die. Together with a German police officer, a dogged inspector named Schmidt, Esther tries to discover who wants Anna dead--and why. Yet the deeper she and Schmidt dig, the more they realize that their own lives are at risk. Deeply atmospheric, peopled with rich, complex characters, City of Shadows is an enthralling novel.
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Add this copy of City of Shadows to cart. $7.61, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Books Canada.
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Add this copy of City of Shadows to cart. $28.39, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Canada.
This was one of the best books I read this year. It takes place in Nazi Germany before WWII and has lots of suspense plus a surprise ending I did not see coming. Excellent plot and writing style.
bookneedle
Sep 11, 2007
History made enthralling!
The author of this suspense novel has managed to combine so many aspects of life and politics in Germany and Eastern Europe between the Great War and WWII that the reader wants to explore all the threads that come unravelled.
Did a Czar's daughter escape the massacre in Russia and is the pretender authentic? Jewish pogroms in Russia and Poland, and, finally, the holocaust is heralded in Germany -- all fodder for this novel. The wonderfully vibrant arts community in Berlin between the wars is also depicted. Among all these events is woven the mystery of this novel. It is well plotted, and the characters are very sympathetic.
The reader is now going to search for other works by this author!