A Captivating Dual Timeline Historical Mystery
Highly Recommended
What It's About
In The Porcelain Doll, we follow Rosie (aka Raisa), a Russian-born woman living in England, who travels back to Russia in 1991. She's helping a Russian writer with his research—but her real goal is to uncover buried family secrets and confront the ghosts of her past.
Those ghosts are revealed through a vivid historical timeline beginning in 1915, when a young woman named Antonina marries into the Russian aristocracy. Her story unfolds through WWI, the Russian Revolution, the civil war, and WWII, painting a haunting and evocative portrait of 20th-century Russia.
Dual Timelines
- 1915–1948: Russia (Antonina’s story)
- 1991: Russia (Rosie/Raisa’s story)
What I Loved
- The Mystery: Intricate and gripping—it kept me turning pages well into the night. Loesch weaves the threads of past and present with skill, revealing twists and surprises along the way.
- The Romance: The quiet, believable connection between Raisa and Lev added emotional depth without overpowering the main narrative.
- The Setting: Russia truly came alive through Loesch’s lyrical and evocative prose. You can feel the chill of a winter’s night and the tension in the air during political upheaval.
My Thoughts
I’m so glad I stumbled across this book—it’s an absorbing, well-written novel that balances a complex plot with deep characterisation. I usually favour one timeline in dual timeline novels, but here I was equally invested in both. That’s a rare feat!
The Porcelain Doll does contain supernatural elements—Raisa receives visions from her sister—which I don’t usually enjoy, but they were subtle enough not to distract from the main story. I could easily suspend disbelief.
There are also a few harrowing scenes that are difficult to read, but they feel appropriate and necessary given the historical context.
Final Verdict
A beautifully written and emotionally resonant historical mystery that kept me hooked from start to finish. If you enjoy dual timeline novels with rich settings and compelling family secrets, I highly recommend The Porcelain Doll.
Official Blurb
In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land ...
Rosie lived peacefully in Moscow and her mother told her fairy tales. One summer night, all that came abruptly to an end when her father and sister were gunned down. Now, Rosie's only inheritance from her reclusive mother is a notebook full of eerie, handwritten tales, but there is another story lurking between the lines.
Currently studying at Oxford University, Rosie has a fiancé who knows nothing of her former life. Desperate for answers to the questions that have tormented her, Rosie returns to her homeland and uncovers a devastating family history which spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin's purges and beyond. At the heart of those answers stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actions reverberate across the century ...
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It looks like The Porcelain Doll is also published as The Last Russian Doll. You can find out more on Kristen's website: https://www.kristenloesch.com
- Publisher : Allison & Busby (29 November 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0749028017
- ISBN-13 : 978-0749028015