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A review of Anastasia: The Lost Princess

by James Blair Lovell

Was she or wasn’t she? The mystery of Anastasia and Anna Anderson

Reviewed by: Beth Williams

Anastasia: The Lost Princess The first time I heard of the mystery of Anastasia I was in middle school. Snuggled under the covers with the lights out, I watched a movie starring Amy Irving on a little black and white television, enchanted by the story of Czar Nicholas’ youngest daughter. Ever since, I’ve been hooked, fascinated by the claims of Anna Anderson that she was indeed the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Despite DNA evidence saying otherwise, I’m one of those people who still believe that Anna Anderson and Anastasia were one and the same. Pick up this book, start reading, and ask yourself: how can all these facts be coincidence?

Lovell does an incredibly thorough job of going through the Anastasia story, and he was lucky enough to have access to Anna Anderson for first person interviews. The book also contains two sections of black and white photographs, including famous shots of the Imperial family and pictures of Anastasia and Anna Anderson’s ears which were studied, compared and later found to be the same. There are also key photographs of players in the mystery including Anastasia’s tutor’s son Gleb Botkin.

A skeptic? “Anastasia: The Lost Princess” will give you pause to think again. Lovell details the many people who recognized Anna Anderson as Anastasia, such as Gleb Botkin, and he examines the scars on Anna’s body which are consistent with the wounds the Grand Duchess would have endured. Perhaps the most intriguing revelation in Lovell’s absorbing work is the fact that Anna Anderson, upon revealing that the Czar had hid his money in a bank in England, was immediately discredited by members of the royal family who had previously privately recognized her as the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

The collection of photographs featured in the book are fascinating, especially if you’re on the verge of believing that Anna Anderson and Anastasia were one and the same. Spend a few minutes looking at the photos of the Grand Duchess and then of Anna Anderson, and you'll find yourself even deeper in the mystery.

Lovell does such a thorough job of detailing the case that Anna Anderson is Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov that you, like I was, may be left wondering how others could have doubt to her identity? Lovell points out incidents in which Anna had knowledge that only someone with access to the inner circles of the royal family would know. Perhaps that, above all other evidence, is enough to get one thinking and pondering.

If you like a good mystery, you’ll find “Anastasia: The Lost Princess” so intriguing that you’ll likely start questioning everything you’ve heard about this tragic yet fascinating tale of a Russian Duchess.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Anastasia: The Lost Princess

Copyright © by Beth Williams, 2003










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