The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

The Star of Kazan
Eva Ibbotson
2004, MacMillan, London
0330418025
388p.

Annika was abandoned as a baby in a little church in Austria and taken home by servants of a great house in Vienna. Shortly after an old lady leaves Annika a trunk full of fake jewels in her will, Annika's mother - a noble woman - returns to take her home.

This is an interesting children's book. I don't think I've ever read a children's book so full of the history of pre-WWI Europe. It was fascinating to real of the old noble families and the social structures. The story was predictable, but it is only meant for children.

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