Katya and her mother begin their new lives as peasants and are soon reunited with Misha. They are taken in by a peasant couple and Katya begins learning how to farm the land. They arrive only to find the estate has been burned by the peasants who worked their land. Petersburg due to the danger all aristocrats are under so they go to their country estate, The Oaks. Katya and her mother cannot return to St. The royal family is taken away and Katya and Irena are not allowed to stay. In Siberia, still under house arrest, they find out that Kerensky's revolutionary government has been overthrown by the Bolsheviks and Lenin now heads the government. For several months the royal family, along with Katya and Irena, live under house arrest until they are eventually sent to Siberia. The Czar abdicates the throne hoping to save Russia and Kerensky heads the Russian government. The peasants, unhappy with the war and the Empress's rule, are ready for revolution. After several years at war, the civil unrest escalates. The Czar goes to the battle front and leaves the Empress to rule Russia. The war is a disaster and Russia suffers many losses. When World War I breaks out with Germany, Misha's class at the military academy is graduated early and he is sent into battle. But she still cannot reconcile the exploitation she saw among the peasants. Katya becomes close to the Grand Duchesses and looks upon the Czar as a father. When the Empress asks Irena to become her lady-in-waiting, Irena and Katya move to the Alexander Palace to live with the royal family. Misha takes Katya out among the peasants and for the first time she sees the poverty and degradation in which they live.Įventually, Irena sends Misha to the military academy due to his involvement with the revolutionaries. While Katya and her mother Irena are loyal to the Czar, Misha supports the revolutionary leader, Alexander Kerensky. Katya, a young Russian aristocrat, and her cousin Misha both lost their fathers during the last war. My kids and I recently read, Angel On The Square, for my daughters' book group.

Angel on the square by gloria whelan