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The Pearl of Dubai

Grant Foster
Publish America (2009)
ISBN 9781448920853
Reviewed by Melissa Koltes for RebeccasReads (01/10)

"The Pearl of Dubai" puts a new twist on the familiar Anastasia story.  Did she survive the execution of her family?  If so, then how and what became of her? 

Grant Foster does a fantastic job pulling the readers in and holding on to them.  His story of how Anastasia escaped the execution is dynamic and engrossing.  The 15-year-old Grand Duchess forms a plan to visit Dubai to pick out pearls, which are to be used in a jewelry design by Faberge.  With the aid of various friends and family (some are blackmailed into assisting,) she embarks on her journey while a look-a-like remains to play the role of Anastasia.

Through unforeseen events she is unable to return to Russia causing her family to believe she is dead,  leaving the look-a-like to endure what would have been Anastasia’s last days.  Through bumps and curves the reader has a compelling story that, although fiction, sounds plausible.

This is a wonderful novel and I truly enjoyed reading it.  I was captivated by the storyline from the very beginning and found the writing to be descriptive, well developed and very vivid. 

I am not convinced, however, that some of the language would have been used by the aristocrats of the time.  Nor am I sure that a female impersonator, who wears his makeup in public, would be accepted in the early 1900’s.  But the character is colorful, eccentric, and my personal favorite.  

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