Kristen Loesch

"There is no enlightenment to be found in the past. No healing. No solace Whatever we are looking for will not be there"
A blend of historical fiction, romance, and mystery. It is a modern-day Dr. Zhivago!
Some of the prose was a bit flowery:
"Tonya smiles along with him, as if she can already taste the succulent sweetness of wild strawberries, can imagine the juice running down their faces like blood."
"She uses the same tea leaves every morning, but the ritual is a remnant of life before the war. She will do it until the leaves are brewed into the air."
"...every day, Valentin looks more and more like the tea leaves, being strained into dust."
You get the picture. Still, very readable. The fairy tales, written by the author, were mesmerizing.
The mystery behind Rosie's family tragedy is never solved. That was disappointing.
… (more)

An epic story of Russia during the revolution, up to the 1990s.
Rosie (Raisa) saw her sister and father murdered when she was a child. She and her mother fled Russia after this. Now, studying at Oxford, she is hired by a famous writer, Alexey, to do some research for him in Moscow. She longs to return there, and she takes the job. While there, she starts to research her mother's stories and dolls that fascinated her mother, and uncovers her own history and a love story of nearly 80 years. Rosie also discovers her own love.
This story outlines the harsh times that the Russian people had from 1917 until the Communist USSR was dissolved. The author's note laments the rise of Putin.
Very interesting and different.… (more)