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Rating: 
Summary: Storyline ....
Review: Since Amazon did not post an editorial review, here's the description from the back of the book to help you decide if this story is for you: "The haunting story of a forbidden love betweenthe agent of the British king and the daughter of the Imperial Czar .... From a window of the Imperial train a young girl looked out. Startled blue eyes met his. He was aware of a girl soft with colour and enchantment. The warm sunlight danced on the windows, was reflected in her eyes and made a shining cloud of her chestnut-blonde hair. He feld the strangest sense of indefinable communications as in shy, suspended animation she returned his gaze, the train bringing her to him, taking her away. The fleeting seconds stretched. He could not resist smiling. And at the very last moment before she vanished, she gave him the shyest of smiles in response. It was the first time John Kirby, British secret agent, saw Grand Duchess Olga. It was the beginning of a tender love that would blossom in the summer's sun while the storm of the Russian Revolution gathered. A perilous, precious love -- all the more beautiful becuase it was never meant to be."
Rating:
Summary: intelligent historical fiction
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: intelligent historical fiction
Review: The Summer Day Is Done works so well on many levels--as a tale for explaining the downfall of Nicholas II, a portrait of a family, and a touching but never melodramatic or sappy romance. Stevens draws his characters with a loving but honest hand, and never gives into the temptation to destroy the book's integrity by incorporating traditional "happy ending"-type of events. I'm sure historians of the Russian Revolution might take exception to his habit of casting the Romanoff family and their actions in the best possible light (it was quite a shock to me when I read Nicholas and Alexandra, after reading this novel), but I rather like his decision to focus on N & A's positive qualities. We'll leave cold reality to the history texts. And the romance is exquisitely written. It is a wonderful love story, which is rarely found despite the multitudes of books that claim to be romances. (To give you an idea of my taste, I think that Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and Possession by A.S. Byatt fall into the category of intelligent and thoughtful love stories that eschew formulas.) Kirby and Olga never step out of character. Even though you know what really happened during the Russian Revolution, somehow the book manages to avoid predictability. You find yourself hoping desperately that somehow, events that are decades past can be averted. This is a fabulous book. Read it if you can find a copy.
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