The Secret Wife: Love. Guilt. Heartbreak.

I love dual stories, especially when they're linked to the past that has a bit of history that actually happened. This author does an amazing job meshing the past with the present. There were a couple chapters that I found were very slow moving near the beginning but the rest of the book picks up from there. I'm only mentioning it so if you think the same thing, don't give up on the book, it does get really good. Once I finished, it made me want to research the Romanov family. Great read, recommend it!

Generally, I avoid romance novels for a variety of reasons---mostly because they are a little cheesy and steeped in soap-operatic cliches. I made an exception for The Secret Wife, though, because I read the sample section and it drew me in very quickly. I love a captivating book in which I become absorbed for days. I had a hunch The Secret Wife would be a novel like that, so I downloaded it. I confess I became terribly absorbed, reading straight through for hours on end (my favorite reading experience). It's very well-written and, as I learned from the afterword, quite well researched, historically. I fullly admit real-life missing persons mysteries are ripe picks for exploration by imaginative authors, and they can make an excellent read. So I can see why the execution of the royal Romanov family, with no remains found for eight decades, and more years until DNA science advanced enough to provide likely identification, would be a natural; for an author like Gill Paul, whose writing typically intertwines delicious speculation with historical fact. That's why I call this a high-end romance novel; it's much more sophisticated, both in style and in researched facts, than a typical romance novel. The Secret Wife did disappoint in places for using stale soap opera devices that I feel cheapen a seriously written book. Such devices include a character coming back from the dead, and the obligatory rape scenes. That aside, I think the book succeeds overall and I give it high marks for the blending of fiction and historical fact, and the two timelines that interweave until they meet at the story's climax, then proceed, arm-in-arm to the story's conclusion. The very last scene in the book made me shake my head in disapproval for being far-fetched and suffocatingly soapy; I think it would have done far better to end with the conclusion of the chapter just before it. Instead, it reminds me too much of the proverbial guests who are charming and entertaining, then overstay their welcome, nearly ruining the whole evening. Despite this flaw, I can recommend this book whole-heartedly, especially to fans of historical fiction. It's one of the better ones I've come across in my reading travels.

The Secret Wife is a brilliant historical fiction romance that kept me up and reading way past my bedtime! It is the fascinating story of what could have happened, had one of the Romanov’s children managed to escape their captors and flee Russia. I love how the author used several real characters and events as the basis for her characters and plot line, then created an alternative reality that seemed truly authentic. The politics, struggles between social classes and daily life in Russia during the 1900s are also well described and interesting. This novel must have been a joy to research and the author’s diligence to details and astute observations about this turbulent time lends credibility to her story. There is a mystery in the past and present that needs to be solved. Only in the final chapters are the connections between the two eras and story lines united. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen next, the author proved me wrong. I really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to historical fiction buffs.

This is a book of fiction, but it is based ( some) real people. It is about the sad tale of the Romanov's ; the Czars family in Russia. The story goes back in time then goes to the present time, but it is not confusing. The reader can keep up with the time period and characters. It was hard for me to put this wonderful story down. The main character, is a woman who is related to a man who was secretly married to one of the Czars’ daughters. This story is part mystery, part suspense, part history, romance, drama and part modern day events. This book is worth your time to read. I loved it.

Although this is fiction, the author did an excellent job of blending known facts from the tragic Romanov past with a beautiful love story. A modern day novelist who has inherited a cabin in the Adirondacks from a grandfather that she did not know, begins to search for her own history after her husband has betrayed her. As she gathers facts from what she finds at the cabin and seeks out sources who can help her fill in the gaps, a mesmerizing love story, that dates back to her grandparents during the time of the Russian revolution, emerges. It was a captivating read and spurred me to read more about the tragic demise of the Romanov family. It was fascinating as well after reading this story to find a actual picture of the "lovers" when I searched the web.

Procuro ler em inglês para treinar o idioma, por isso não costumo ser muito exigente na escolha dos livros, Basta que a história me envolva um pouco a ponto de me manter ligada no texto. Mas esta me surpreendeu. Recomendo muito. Tendo como pano de fundo a queda do Tzarismo Russo e o destino da família real com a vinda do regime comunista, a história é vivida em dois tempos diferentes: na época da revolução russa e no momento atual, através de um dos descendentes, levado a pesquisar a vida de seu bisavô por conta de uma herança que lhe foi destinada. Estou no final do livro e curiosa para saber o que há de ficção e de verdadeiro no romance. Vale a pena ler!

Having loved Gill’s previous book (No Place For a Lady) I was very much looking forward to reading this and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve always had a fascination for the Russian Romanov family and it’s well documented in history how they met their fate. What the author has done with The Secret Wife, and so very well, is to combine fiction with fact to make a spellbinding tale of love and loss. I love dual narrative and timeslip but quite often prefer one period to another – as I thought would be the case here. Initially, I thought that Kitty’s story would be the weakest of the two but as the story progressed and her investigations led to more being known about the later years of her long lost relation together with the discovery of family secrets, I found that I enjoyed both timelines equally. Although Kitty was mainly the vehicle for the telling of her great-grandfather’s story, she became a stronger character in her own right. I was very impressed with her carpentry skills whilst repairing the remote lakeside cabin that she inherited! The story primarily focuses on cavalry officer Dimitri Yakovlevich Malama and his love for The Grand Duchess Tatiana. Although he had been an Imperial Guard for the family, their most personal encounter was in a converted hospital ward at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo when Dimiti, aged 23, was recovering from injuries suffered during the fighting at the front between the Russians and Germans. Tatiana together with her sister Olga and their mother were helping to tend the wounded and the brief times that Dimitri and Tatiana spent together was the beginning of a love that would be both wonderful and the cause of so much heartache and danger. This is a story spanning the years from 1914, including the Bolshevik revolution in 1918 and then in later years up to 2016. The research has been meticulous and the setting, the characters and the turmoil and brutality of the revolution were all bought to life. From the extravagance and opulence of the Tsar and his family – they gave each other Faberge eggs as presents and, later, with the Romanov women sewing their precious jewels in their underclothes for safekeeping; to the dreadfully harsh conditions suffered by the poorest of Russian citizens giving rise to the revolution and then the cruelty and determination of the Red Army to take control and to rid Russia of the wealthiest and most hated families – particularly the Romanov Royal family. I became completely absorbed in the lives of Dimitri and Tatiana. Dimitri was a brave soldier but with an impulsive nature who was later to regret certain decisions he had made. Tatiana we knew slightly less about although she appeared to be a very brave and resilient young woman if a little naive and unworldly due to her family’s extreme wealth. Reference is made to her mother’s (Alexandra, the Tsarina) dependence on the healer and mystic, Rasputin, and the influence he had over the family. With her husband, the Tsar, away commanding his army, she was left in control. Because of her German ancestry, she was regarded with suspicion and thought by some of being a traitor during Russia’s war with Germany. I don’t want to go into too much detail about the rest of the story and risk spoiling it but I absolutely loved The Secret Wife and it will be on my top books of the year list for 2016. This is only the second book I have read by Gill Paul but what I love about her writing is the way her vivid descriptions bring the story alive, you can’t help but be pulled into the story and feel an emotional attachment to the characters. The Secret Wife is a captivating and often emotional story of a fascinating and brutal period in history. Gill Paul has woven into history her own view of events. I would love to believe that her version is the true one.

From the time I've received this book I've been unable to put it down and I finished it in a day's time. It's one of those books that keep you hooked till the end... Definitely a best seller and a must buy!

So many historical details, romantic without being sappy. Great novel, another version of Russian history...who knows how did it really go.