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Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess is the fifth book in The Royal Diaries by Scholastic. It was written by Carolyn Meyer and was her second book for the series. It was first published by Scholastic in September 2000 and was re-released in October 2013 with new cover art. The book has also been translated in Spanish, Greek, Polish, and Italian.

Dedication[]

"For Patricia Clark Smith"

Book description[]

"25 April 1914—Livadia
Papa took us on another long walk. Mama and Alexei joined us later for a picnic, although Mama was feeling weak and needed her wheelchair. An odd thing happened. My sisters and I were picking wildflowers in a meadow, and Alexei was lying on a blanket nearby staring up at the clear blue sky, when suddenly he said, "I wonder what's going to happen to us?"
We asked him what he meant, and he couldn't explain it—just that he had a strange feeling that something was going to happen, and that next year we wouldn't be here.
"Nonsense," Mama said, but I wasn't at all sure that he was speaking nonsense. Alexei has a way of sensing things.
"

""The palace doors are locked. We are prisoners."
Thirteen-year-old Anastasia is the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia. Anastasia is used to a life of luxury; her major concerns are how to get out of her detested schoolwork to play in the snow, go ice-skating, or have picnics. She wears diamonds and rubies, and every morning her mother tells her which matching outfit she and her three sisters shall wear that day. It's a fairy tale life—until everything changes with the outbreak of war between Russia and Germany. As Russia enters WWI, hunger and poverty grow among the peasants, and soon they are not pleased with their ruler. While the tsar is trying win a war and save the country, the citizens are turning on the royal family. When her father and the rest of the family are imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, suddenly Anastasia understands what this war is costing the people. In the pages of her diary, Anastasia chronicles the wealth and luxury of her royal days, as well as the fall from power, and her uncertain fate.
"

"Junto a sus padres, el zar y la zarina de Rusia, a sus hermanas y a su hermano Alexei, la duquesa Anastasia lleva una existencia sin grandes lujos. Pero al estallar la guerra con Alemania, todo se precipita. Las revueltas populares se suceden y, finalmente, la familia real es apresada por los bolcheviques en su propio palacio. A partir de ese momento, la vida de Anastasia cambia por completo. Durante su confinamiento en remotos lugares del país, la joven echará de menos los juegos, las vacaciones con su abuela, los vestidos, las suculentas comidas. Pese a todo, ignorante de su destino, Anastasia mantiene intacta la esperanza.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
Con este diario ficticio de Anastasia continúa la serie Diarios de Reinas y Princesas, en la que descubrirás la vida de los personajes femeninos más interesantes de la Historia. Concluido el diario, encontrarás un epílogo con el resumen de la vida de cada protagonista, además de un complemento de ilustraciones, mapas, árboles genealógicos e información diversa que te ilustrará sobre el contexto histórico en el que se desarrollaron los hechos relatados en el diario.
"

"In 1914 Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of the Tsar, leads a regimented but privileged life in the grand palaces of Russia. Then comes the First World War and the Bolshevik revolution. With the royal family arrested and exiled to Siberia, the life she knew is swept away forever. Fear and uncertainty are all that remains."

Plot[]

Epilogue[]

Historical Note[]

Characters[]

Main article: List of Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess characters

Author[]

Main article: Carolyn Meyer

Carolyn Meyer is an American author for children and young adults. Her work is usually in the historical fiction genre. She is well known for her Young Royals series. Meyer wrote three books in The Royal Diaries, including Isabel: Jewel of Castilla and Kristina: The Girl King.

Editions[]

Anastasia-audio-book
  • Narrator: Renée Raudman
  • Publisher: Tantor Media
  • Published: July 15, 2006[11][12]
  • Running time: 3 hours and 46 minutes
  • No. of discs: 3
  • ISBN: 9781400102440

Awards[]

  • NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People (2001) - recommended[13]
  • IRA Young Adults' Choices Reading List (2002)

Notes[]

  • The cover of the original The Royal Diaries edition was illustrated by Tim O'Brien.
  • The cover of the 2013 reprint was illustrated by Mélanie Delon.
  • Richard Jone illustrated the cover of the My Royal Story edition.

References[]

See also[]

Resources:
File:Anastasia The Last Grand Duchess Discussion Guide.pdf



My Story
Original

The Hunger | Voyage on the Great Titanic | The Crystal Palace | Blitz | My Tudor Queen | Twentieth-Century Girl
The Great Plague | The '45 Rising | Civil War | Trafalgar | The Trenches | Battle of Britain | Mill Girl | Transported
Armada | Crimea | Bloody Tower | Indian Mutiny | Zulu War | Mayflower | Agincourt | Suffragette | Waterloo | Slave Girl
Flying Ace | Anne Boleyn and Me | D-Day | Victorian Workhouse | Spy Smuggler | Desert Danger | War Nurse
U-Boat Hunter | The Queen's Spies

1st relaunch

Princess of Egypt | Pompeii | Road to War | Roman Invasion | Viking Blood | Highway Girl | Sophie's Secret War
The Storm to Come | The Sweep's Boy | The Fall of the Blade | Pyramid of Secrets | Factory Girl | Dodger!
No Way Back | Wartime Princess | London Stories | Berlin Olympics | Lady Jane Grey | Nowhere to Run

2nd relaunch

Codename Céline

3rd relaunch

Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan | Ignatius Sancho | Princess Sophia Duleep Singh | Mary Prince

My Royal Story

Victoria | Anastasia | Cleopatra | Marie Antoinette | Elizabeth | Mary, Queen of Scots | Henry VIII's Wives

My True Story

What If They Find Us? | Hero at Dunkirk | Standing Alone | Give Us the Vote!

External links[]

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