Hidden in the layers of frost and snow of the Russian winters lay many secrets buried during the years of the Russian Revolution. Many citizens have willingly kept these secrets buried below the surface so they may move forward with their lives. The Last Russian Doll is the story of a young woman who chose to unbury the past. It follows the lineage of a Russian family spanning from the early 1900s until the mid 1990’s. It pulls together the past and present actions that ultimately led to a family tragedy that will forever change one girl’s life.

Rosie was raised in Moscow but fled the country with her mother during a tumultuous time of history. She has long kept her past memories locked away in the farthest corners of her mind.

However, as a young adult, Rosie finds herself at a crossroads after the death of her mother. She is faced with a decision to either move forward with her marriage to a wealthy Englishman and forever forget her past OR dive headfirst into the worst night of her life to uncover a mystery that has haunted her for years.

Ultimately, Rosie returns to Russia to search for the man who murdered her father and sister. She is armed with nothing more than a key her mother left her and a handful of fairy tales she heard countless times as a little girl. She travels under the employment of an older historian who has project work in Russia that requires the assistance of a research analyst. Rosie quickly agrees to the project, despite some uncanny coincidences that call into question the validity of the project.

Piece by piece, Rosie begins to uncover truths and bits of information that will change her life forever.

The Last Russian Doll is told from multiple perspectives, including Rosie, Tonya and Valentin, along with a few others intermittently. This is done somewhat tastefully in regards to the perspective on Rosie. However, I would have preferred to limit the narrators to just Rosie and Tonya. I feel that intertwining Valentin’s narration to the mix caused the reader to not make the same kind of connection to Tonya as we did with Rosie. It also left room for some unanswered questions in regards to Tonya’s decisions and experiences. The mix of narrators, timeline jumps and fairy tale episodes caused pieces of the novel to feel a bit jumbled together.

Overall, however, the story read well and I did enjoy most of the plotline. I enjoyed it up until the last few chapters. I felt like there were twists and turns thrown into the final pieces that just did not add up for me. It seemed like the author was trying a bit too hard to be creative and have an unexpected ending. It left me with more questions than answers.

When Rosie finally starts to unravel the mysteries, I readied myself to discover some kind of epic scandal or dark past of her mother or grandmother. However, it was none of those and ultimately a bit of a letdown. The ending did not necessarily close the book – it left multiple items unanswered and without closure. I typically enjoy unexpected endings as long as they make sense for the novel. I can’t say that about The Last Russian Doll.

I will say that the premise was wonderful. A beautiful woman as pretty as a porcelain doll and her family’s saga through the Russian war. A tragedy and love story that spans generations and leaves the youngest generation with a multitude of mysteries to solve. Phenomenal premise and plotline. Though, the ending was a disappointment and the novel felt a tad jumbled with all the jumps in timeline and reality vs. fairy tale.

I liked it enough to keep an eye out for more novels by Kristen Loesch, but it did not make my list of favorites in the historical fiction genre.