Beyond the Book: I Like to Read

Hello.  My name is Liesel Wolf.  Elaine told my story in her book Never Trust a Pretty Wolf.  Do you like to read?  I do.  I read all the time.  One of my most memorable heroines is Tatiana Barrington, a character created by Paullina Simons for her Bronze Horseman trilogy.  I bought The Bronze Horseman in the off chance that I’d like it, but from the moment I started reading I was hooked.  I like World War II stories, and this one was fabulous.

Tatiana is a Russian girl living in Leningrad during the siege of Leningrad.  It’s there that she meets Alexander Barrington, an American whose idealist father gave up his American citizenship to become a Communist.  There’s a lot more to that story, but it isn’t relevant to why I like Tatiana.

Tatiana takes care of her family during the siege.  If it wasn’t for her they would’ve given up the struggle to stay alive.  She even hides her love for Alexander because her sister loves him and saw him first.  Fate pushes her to do things that normally she wouldn’t have done, but she gets through everything because she’s a strong person.

Her love for Alexander is the forever kind.  There comes a time when she’s called on to risk everything, including her life, for Alexander.  The odds that she can succeed are astronomical, but she does what she has to do and turns bitter defeat and certain death into victory.

Who wouldn’t want to be like Tatiana?  She’s strong yet yielding, loves passionately, and can forgive the unthinkable.  War can’t stop her, neither can Communism or Hitler’s army, but through it all she remains so feminine, so loving, so giving that you just want to help her out. 

If you’d like to read the series, start with The Bronze Horseman.  Then Tatiana and Alexander, and finally The Summer Garden.  I bet you like them as much as I do.