He brings her food, walks her home from the factory where she now makes weapons and trucks, and gives her a reason to cling on even as her family disintegrates. A sister who loves the same man she does, a coward determined to bring Alexander down – there is nothing they can’t survive. Against all odds – the cold, the hunger, the bombs – they take turns saving each other’s lives and attempt to find a way out of hell. He is Alexander Belov – or in a previous life, Alexander Barrington, a major in the Red Army. Across the road, a soldier watches Tatiana in her white dress with red roses. I felt like the story could have ended easily after either the first or second book, but I was glad to be able to follow them through until the very end.Ī girl sits on a bench, eating ice cream. The second I found infinitely more brutal in its depiction of war, and the third – set in free America, as they try to build a life from the ground up – verged on tedious at times. While I struggled to make it through Paullina Simons’ other most well-known novel, The Girl in Times Square, I stayed up all hours of the night, unable to tear myself away from this.Īs for the two sequels…if you’ve fallen in love with Tatiana and Alexander, then read them. I haven’t come across anyone in real life who hasn’t gushed about The Bronze Horseman, and now I understand why. The existence of the trilogy and a little Googling told me that much. I mean, I knew they both survived and managed to live. Two, I ABSOFREAKINGLYLUTELY had to find out what happened to the characters. Upon finishing The Bronze Horseman, I decided I absolutely couldn’t start Sophie’s Choice. The gods MUST have been shining down on me.

I devoured all three books within a week. But then again, this isn’t the kind of book a 12-year-old would appreciate, so I’m glad I waited. The Bronze Horseman, after all, is nearly a good 10 years old. (I was going through my drafts folder recently and realised I never published this post – even though I wrote this back in 2010.

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