Having finished The Bronze Horseman as my last book of 2011, I eagerly jumped into the sequel, Tatiana and Alexander (formerly called The Bridge to Holy Cross). I didn't really know what to expect, considering that the first book was so action-packed (and left on quite the cliffhanger). I didn't think T&A (ha, I'm five) could top it. Well, call me a liar, because I loved it even more, and it is my first finished book of 2012.
NOTE: There are spoilers from The Bronze Horseman in this review.
From Goodreads: Tatiana is eighteen years old and pregnant when she miraculously escapes war-torn Leningrad to the West, believing herself to be a widow. Her husband, Major Alexander Belov, a decorated hero of the Soviet Union, has been arrested by Stalin's infamous secret police and is awaiting imminent death as a traitor and a spy. Tatiana begins her new life in America. In wartime New York City she finds work, friends and a life beyond her dreams. However, her grief is inescapable and she keeps hearing Alexander calling out to her. Meanwhile, Alexander faces the greatest danger he's ever known. An American trapped in Russia since adolescence, he has been serving in the Red Army and posing as a Soviet citizen to protect himself. For him, Russia's war is not over, and both victory and defeat will mean certain death. As the Second World War moves into its spectacular close, Tatiana and Alexander are surrounded by the ghosts of their past and each other. They must struggle against destiny and despair as they find themselves in the fight of their lives.
This book had everything, everything I could have asked for. Told from both Tatiana's and Alexander's points of view, each thinking of the other as they slowly struggle through separate lives -- Tatiana as a nurse on Ellis Island in NYC, and Alexander in one terrible prison after another -- this book is chock-full of emotion, pain, and redemption. Most of Part I of the book is backstory about Alexander's life and how his idealistic Communist parents defected from the United States to the Soviet Union, only to have their dreams crash around them. So much of Alexander's story is glossed over in TBH, and I was so satisfied with the complete explanation in T&A. Tatiana's story, in America, is just as interesting, as she struggles to put together a life for Alexander's baby son, trying to get over the death of her husband while not totally believing that he really is gone.
I admit that I cried near the end of this book, too. The last fifty pages or so are extremely fast-paced, and I tore through them all this morning just to find out what happened to Tatiana and Alexander. The ending was brilliant, I loved it. And I can't believe that Simons has more in her for a third book.
...Which I will hopefully be reading on vacation. My darling husband, who never reads EVER, decided after seeing a preview that he HAD to read The Hunger Games (which I read and loved last year), and so he has stolen my Kindle. He's pretty far into it right now (he started Mockingjay yesterday), but I think I'm going to have to snag my sister's paper copy so that I can have my Kindle back and download The Summer Garden before we go on vacation on Sunday.
As to vacation, this is my LAST day of work until January 17th! I could not be more psyched. Although I got a massive guilt-trip last night, as I was sorting through things to bring in my carry-on. Ollie decided that he wanted to jump in and come with us on vacation.
Nothing makes you feel guilty like an adorable fat kitty.
Rating (for the book AND the cat): *****
Rating (for the book AND the cat): *****
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