From the bestselling author of The Frozen River comes an enthralling historical mystery that unravels the extraordinary twists and turns in Anna Anderson’s fifty-year battle to be recognised as Anastasia Romanov. Is she the Russian grand duchess or the thief of another woman’s legacy?

Countless others have rendered their verdict. Now it is your turn.

Russia, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police herd Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.

Germany, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water or even acknowledge her rescuers, Anna Anderson is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious young woman claims to be the Russian grand duchess. As rumours begin to circulate that the youngest Romanov daughter survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats awaken.

I Was Anastasia unravels the thrilling mystery around Anna Anderson in a tale that is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted.

‘[Lawhon’s] effortless, eloquent prose transports the reader via a dramatic, suspenseful and satisfying work of historical fiction … Lawhon brilliantly employs an inventive and non-linear dual narrative to tell the tale of how Anastasia would become Anna Anderson, or, perhaps, how Anna became Anastasia … In the end, what Lawhon does so convincingly is shake up our notion of identity. And not just that of Anastasia and Anna. Are we who we say we are, or who others believe us to be? It’s a question that lingers long after the final page.’