Paullina Simons' Tatia and Shura (Bronze Horseman) Trilogy

I have been reading romance books for years. I've got a good pile on my floor and bookshelf, accumulated over the last five (?) years. Not Mills and Boon stuff but the covers do sometimes feature the couple in full Regency regalia. I think the reason I started to read them despite my own initial disgust was that happy endings are always good (I got a bit tired of all the unhappy endings you find in modern literature - Virgin Suicides, anyone?), and frankly, I didn't want to read books that would tax my thinking too much. The other day I was looking at my bookshelf and marvelling at the copy of War and Peace that I purchased after reading it in 1997. I remember enjoying it immensely - the family dramas played against the epic scope of the Napoleonic Wars, cheering on Natasha, hating the Kuragin family, and falling in love with Pierre and being elated when he marries Natasha. An excellent book, but such a slog and to much to think about.

Well, I have now found a wonderful medium between romance and epics.

The Bronze Horseman (2000) by Paullina Simons is a 664 page epic story of 17-yo Tatiana Metanova and Red Army officer Alexander Belov, set against the horrific Siege of Leningrad (for those who don't want to click the link, go watch Enemy at the Gates). On June 22nd 1941, war is declared and Tania sent out to buy food for family. Due to not taking the threat seriously, the shop runs out of food and while waiting at a bus stop to go somewhere else, she sees a soldier staring at her. The two strike up conversation and are instantly smitten, until he helps her carry her groceries home and they realise that Alex (henceforth referred to as Shura) is the soldier Tatia's older sister Dasha has been seeing.

Right now, you're probably thinking *oh, Mooey's just reading another old romance...* but I swear to you all, THIS BOOK IS BRILLIANT. Life, death, war, love, impossible situations, what people can/will do when they're pushed...the characters just....oh shit, read it. You'd have to have a heart of stone to not be moved what Tatia, Shura and the Metanov family have to endure during the Siege and *SPOILER* especially since Shura is actually an American who was forced to migrate as a child by idealistic parents (since executed by the NKVD) - and he told the wrong person his secret *END SPOILER*. Simons' prose is such that it really sucks you into the daily lives and thoughts of her characters - those 600+ pages really fly by. Seriously. I wish I'd waited to read this when I fly to London - it has kept me constantly wrapped up since I started reading it on Monday, pausing only to sleep and work. And even then, I've been reading at work during incubations.

While I technically haven't finished it (too busy flipping forwards and backwards - I really wanted to know what happens!), I have already borrowed the two sequels, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (2003) and The Summer Garden (2005). Right now you're probably thinking *Well if there's two sequels then they must survive the Siege - duh* but as I said before, Simons makes Tatia and Shura real people and life is never easy for people who survive that kind of trauma. Real people and I want to know what happens to them! Real people that I can see in my head. My image of Tatiana is just like the girl on the cover of TSG:
But Shura is without a doubt Marat Safin right down to Simons' description of being tall, dark, and needing a shave everyday:
Ok, I really wanted to post that pic of Safin again, but really, READ THE BOOK! I think I will take it along with me to Europe, 600+ pages and all.