The Star of Kazan (original 2004; edition 2006)

by Eva Ibbotson

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1,339	41	14,080	(3.92)	76
After twelve-year-old Annika, a foundling living in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.

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Member:	lja50s
Title:	The Star of Kazan
Authors:	Eva Ibbotson
Info:	Puffin (2006), Paperback, 416 pages
Collections:	Your library
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The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson (2004)

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Showing 1-5 of 39 (next | show all)

This is a truly delightful, old-fashioned story set in beautiful Vienna. Much like The Little Princess, it features a sweet child who is penniless and ill treated until the mystery is all worked out. While not a mystery that the reader doesn't figure out a little too soon, the characters and writing area all worth the read. (

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mslibrarynerd | Jan 13, 2024 |

It's a very Eva Ibbotson book -- very Vienna focused, very idyllic childhood (poor but happy), very idealized main character (so saintly, that girl). The audio book is well read, so I enjoyed it. If it was the first Eva Ibbotson book I had read, I would have probably loved it's fairy-tale predictability and idealistic world view. As it is, I found it dragged in detail and plot. You know it's all going to turn out for the best, but first we must agonize through all the hoops of sorrow and stress.

However, the characters are wonderful (well, Annika is a little too saintly), but the people in the square where she grows up are a hilarious cast of eccentrics. On the whole, good times, but doesn't have enough to it to re-read with pleasure. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

Totally didn't go where I expected, and did so astonishingly well. (

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wetdryvac | Mar 2, 2021 |

I do enjoy a good foundling/rags to riches story -- but the title really didn't go well with the book's story. (

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RobertaLea | May 10, 2020 |

I love this book! It makes me want to visit Vienna and Austria, even though I realize much has changed since this book was set in 1908. Still, I want to see the Lipizzaner horses perform in the Spanish Riding School and eat luscious Austrian pastries, walk in the Alps amid the flowers, and watch for birds. Annika and her family and friends are inspiring in their work ethic and kindness. This is my (at least) second reading of this novel and I love it even more. Includes a map of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in 1908. (

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bookwren | Apr 5, 2020 |

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Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 18))
Ibbotson, master of the "poor orphan makes good" tale, offers another eminently satisfying example, this one wrapped in a valentine to Vienna, the author's natal city. Raised by servants to be "a person who was interested in doing things, not having them," 11-or-so-year-old foundling Annika sees a dream come true when lovely, regal Edeltraut von Tannenberg appears at the door one day, joyously announcing that she's her real mother. Blinded by adoration, Annika barely notices how badly in need of repairs is her fortress-like new home, or how poorly she fits in with her spoiled and predatory new "family." Readers will, though, as piece by piece, the author reveals an elaborate, clever fraud involving faked documents, smoothly plausible lies, and a hoard of supposedly imitation jewelry that Annika has inherited from an elderly neighbor. Creating suspense by letting readers into the scheme long before Annika and her friends, Ibbotson also paints a vivid picture of pre-WWI Vienna, from its delectable pastries to the famed show horses of the Spanish Riding School. Along with this beguiling atmosphere and expertly developed plot, readers will long remember the admirable Annika and cheer her eventual, well-deserved, triumph. Illustrations not seen. 2004, Dutton, 336p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 to 13. Starred Review. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

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▾Other authors

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Eva Ibbotson	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Hawkes, Kevin	Illustrator	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Connolly, Patricia	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Parpola, Inka	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Canonical title

The Star of Kazan

Original title

The Star of Kazan

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For Rowan

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Ellie had gone into the church because of her feet.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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The Star of Kazan

▾Book descriptions

After twelve-year-old Annika, a foundling living in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.

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Annika has never had a birthday. Instead she celebrates her Found Day, the day a housemaid and a cook to three eccentric Viennese professors found her and took her home. There, Annika has made a happy life in the servants’ quarters, surrounded with friends, including the elderly woman next door who regales Annika with stories of her performing days and her countless admirers—especially the Russian count who gave her the legendary emerald, the Star of Kazan. And yet, Annika still dreams of finding her true mother. But when a glamorous stranger arrives claiming to be Annika’s mother, and whisks her away to a crumbling, spooky castle, Annika discovers that all is not as it seems in her newfound home . . . .

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