A House Divided by Michael Phillips and Judith Pella (The Russians Book Two)

 

Publication Date: 

January 1, 1968

Length:

304 pages

Summary:

This is book two of a seven part series called The Russians, written by the Christian husband and wife team of Michael Phillips and Judith Pella. I have read their Stonewycke books which are excellent and I had read book one of this collection years ago. I decided to read book two because it has been in my Kindle for awhile and I wanted to see how the story progressed. It was something different from my cozy mystery kick I've been on. 

When the story opens it picks up where book one left off, the main character, Anna Burenin is ladies maid to Princess Katrina Fedorcenko and has developed a relationship with Katrina's brother, Sergei who has been away fighting in the Russo-Turkish War along with his friend Dimitri, Katrina's love interest. Their stories converge as the war ends, soldiers return and the Russian Revolution's seeds begin to develop into a full blown crisis. 

Anna's brother Paul has his own set of troubles. Away at University in Pskov, he experienced a traumatic event involving a student who was bullied and ultimately driven to suicide. Through a series of events that spiral he becomes involved with radical revolutionaries who pose as friends, seeming to take him under their wing, all while convincing him that overthrowing the government and killing the Tsar is the only way to true freedom for the Russian people. Paul travels to St. Petersburg to be a part of the underground group plotting mayhem and violence, calling themselves, The Will of the People.

Katrina becomes involved with an unsavory man, Basil who is part of Paul's group and Anna eventually returns home to help with her family's harvest when her father is ailing. As each woman struggles through their own personal issues, they must contend with the uneasiness felt throughout all of Russia: that something big is on the horizon and will bring unwelcome changes and misery for them all, regardless of class. They must lean on each other and God to help them through what is to come.

This book felt very much like a transition book for the next one. It continues the stories of the main characters from book one but doesn't go very far into the revolution yet. Since there are seven books total that is understandable. Having read so much about this time period years ago, I don't feel the need to continue the series right now, although the stories of the fictional characters are well written and interesting in their own right. 

I would call this book Young Adult Christian fiction if I were labeling the genre correctly. It is simply written, with short chapters and some romance thrown in. While I enjoyed it, it wasn't in depth enough with the history to hold my interest for five more books. But I'd highly recommend this for any teen or young adult who wants a good timeline of the events leading to the Russian Revolution, the why behind it all, and how it affected both the peasants and the aristocracy allike. Phillips and Pella are very solid in their research. I didn't find anything that wasn't something I'd read about in history books and they do a great job of explaining how someone like Paul could easilty be caught up in the idealism of communism. 

A great series for those needing a simple look at the Russian Revolution. I might eventually continue with the other books one day but for now I'm glad I read book two to see how the story continued.