The Summer Day is Done is a moving account of the events leading up to the Bolshevik Revolution as seen through the eyes of an expatriate Frenchman and the girl he loves. The girl, sort of unfortunately, is Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia, the daughter of the last Czar, Nicholas II. While the book ends tragically, of course, with the execution of the Romanov family by the Bolsheviks, the description of the daily life of the family in the years leading up to the Revolution is evocative. The scenery is described in such detail that when my parents visited the Summer Palace this year and brought me back pictures, it looked exactly as I had imagined it from the book.

The family is described as loving and devoted to one another but, unfortunately for them, somewhat blind to the troubles rocking Russia during Nicholas II's tenure. The love story between the Olga and the soldier, who is accepted as part of this warm family's life, is charming and sweet. Their love is doomed from the start, but, as a reader, you keep hoping for a last minute reprieve for them. This book has stayed with me through the years and sparked an interest in the Russian Revolution and the Czar's family. Clearly the background research was well done and well put togther to render this endearing portrait of a family that was wrong for its time, and paid with their lives.