The House of Special Purpose

Name: The House of Special Purpose
Rating: 4.23 (22103 reviews)

by John Boyne

First published 2009

Amazon

4.2(22,103)

London, 1981. Georgy Daniilovich Jachmenev keeps vigil beside his dying wife Zoya and remembers the Russia of his youth. Born into a poor rural family, he is taken to St Petersburg after an act of courage and appointed to the household of Tsarevich Alexei. At court he encounters Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, the imperial children and Grigori Rasputin while becoming close to Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Revolution destroys the world Georgy has entered. The Romanovs are confined, transferred to Ekaterinburg and murdered in 1918, while Georgy and Zoya’s later life is shaped by exile, war and a secret carried across decades. The novel combines a fictional love story with the decline of the Romanov dynasty, using retrospective narration to explore loyalty, survivor guilt and the reinvention demanded of refugees from revolution.

Historical Periods

Execution of the Romanov Family1918

Genres

Court & Political Fiction Dynastic & Royal Fiction Historical Sagas Romance

Historical people

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia1901–1918 Nicholas II of Russia1868–1918 Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)1872–1918 Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia1904–1918 Grigori Rasputin1869–1916