In order to avoid spoilers, there are separate topics for each of the books in The Bronze Horsemand Series by Paullina Simons. Members can discuss events from the first two books in this thread, but reserve discussion of The Summer Garden (Book 3) in TSG thread.

Thanks again for creating these threads, LJ.

I was thrilled when I found out that this book existed. TBH ending had me totally depressed. Even throughout the beginning of this one I was wondering if they would ever find each other again or if it would be a constant parallel universe kind of life.

And I don't know about anyone else, but when Tatiana finds out that Alexander "might" be alive in a POW camp, I couldn't help but thinking of the Rocky movies. You could almost see her come alive and get that 'eye of the tiger' thing on and hear the song playing in the background. Her joining the Red Cross was a perfect plot. Even though it was a little over the top, it had me on the edge of my seat. When Alexander is trying to give up, I felt like screaming "Don't you dare!" You just had to love Tatiana when she jumps on Alexander as he comes out of the debriefing.

I agree, Tatiana was a force to be reckoned with once she made up her mind to follow a certain course. I was just chilled when she finally realized what Alexander had meant when he said to her "Remember Orbeli." I had no idea what he meant at the end of TBH, either because the name of the curator from the Hermitage had not been mentioned earlier. What a beautiful way for Alexander to tell Tatiana that he would find her and bring her back once it was safe again. Instead, it was Tatiana who recovered her lost treasure at all costs.

I have just started reading T&A. On page 21, as Alexander awaits the arrival of the NKVD to arrest him, he thinks the following...

And as for Tatiana...Alexander knew that one way or another, the Soviet Union would have shortened her life. Long ago Alexander had planned to run to America---leaving her behind, the wife of a Red Army deserter. Or Alexander was going to die at the front---leaving her widowed and alone in the Soviet Union. Or his friend Dimitri was going to point out Alexander to the NKVD, Stalin's secret police, as indeed he had done---leaving her as Alexander Barrington's sole survivor, the Russian wife of an American "spy" and a class enemy of the people.

(Insert sound of screeching brakes here) What?! Am I reading this correctly? Alexander at one time contemplated ditching Tatiana in the USSR! I went back and reread the pertinent passages in BH (their time together in Lazarevo, Tatiana's discovery of the missing $5000.00, Alexander confronting Tatiana in Leningrad after discovering, via Dimitri, that she had returned) to determine if I had missed something. On one hand, it seems to me that it was Alexander's intention to give the $5000.00 to Dimitri. On the other hand though, did Alexander really expect that Dimitri, coward that he was, would head off to Finland without him? Got me thinking that maybe, somewhere deep down inside, Alexander did indeed think about leaving without either Tatiana or Dimitri. Was the $5000.00 he left Tatiana intended to provide for her after he was gone? Also, what about his insistence that she stay in Lazarevo? Did that stem from a desire to keep her away from the dangers of the war raging around Leningrad? Or to keep the NKVD away from Tatiana, "the wife of a Red Army deserter"?

Need your help here!

Susan, I reread this section and had missed this initial plan of Shura's. I don't think that he expected to live, which is why he left the money with Tatiana. Afterall, his survival was against the odds. He must have known that Dimitri was bad news and would never try to escape on his own, but by giving him his share of the money, he was hoping that Dimitri would leave him alone. I can't imagine Alexander leaving T. behind.

I think that she was safe in Lazarevo because no one would know of their marriage and link her back to him. She sought him out in Leningrad just the same and eventualy saved Shura's life for he would have died on the field if she had not intervened and assisted with his immediate treatment. In the end, he made certain of her escape at all costs. It still brings tears to my eyes just thinking of that last scene when T. is told that Alexander drowned.

Tatiana was Alexander's saviour in more ways than one. There is no way he would leave her behind, which ultimately led to his big fight with Dimitri and subsequent betrayal and incarceration.

I think that Alexander also wanted to hide Tatia from Dimitri because he knew that if he could blackmail Alexander, then he could turn around and do the same thing to her with devastating results. Alexander was on the inside of the military also and probably knew that they were a lost cause and just wanted to leave Tatia with something tangible to help her survive in his absence.

There's a later time that Tatia confronts him about what his motivation was when they were in Larazevo but that's the next book and I don't want to spoil it here.

Just started this today. Back when I've finished. . .

Oh, I forgot about that detail. Can you elaborate in the thread for The Summer Garden?

ABL, can't wait to discuss Book 2 with you.

OK, as was mentioned in the BH thread, I just passed the part where we find out where the nickname Shura came from while I was reading waiting for my girls at tennis. So, I now understand that.

I did have a quick continuity question. In this book, it said that Alexander posed as the third (of 4) sons of the Belovs. I thought in BH it said he was the youngest. Not that it really matters in the least, so I don't think it's a big deal, but I was wondering whether my memory was accurate.

Back again when I'm done (or I have something else I want to comment on/ask about immediately).

Last night, I laughed out loud and had to read a bit to my son. It was the part when Alexander was talking to Ouspensky about being confused that the tank had been fixed. That surprised him because he wasn't aware that the tank needed fixing and because they didn't have a tank. I really enjoyed the rather dry humor in that conversation. For the most part, the events in the book are pretty sad or dramatic, but there are definitely a few funny moments.

ABL, you may remember in White Orchid when the foster girl goes to live with the Russian guardian that they have this dark, self-deprecating, fatalistic sort of sense of humor. I've seen this in a couple of other books that I read that have Russian characters in also. Simons does a good job of integrating this into her stories.

I just finished this a little while ago. I cried. Now, I just have to wait until my library receives the copies of The Summer Garden that are currently on order. Hopefully, soon, though I have several things waiting for me in the mean time.

And, yes, Tatiana's jokes "have this dark, self-deprecating, fatalistic sort of sense of humor." I hadn't remembered the White Orchid (Whit Oleander???) until you mentioned it (I read it quite a few years ago now), but now that you do, I think I remember some of that. Didn't they go to a lot of garage sales, or picking through the trash on the rich neighborhoods to get stuff?

Tatiana reminded me so much of Claire (not in a plagiaristic way or anything), when she found a way to get into the camp and rescue Alexander from prison and then was on the run from him and forced to kill people (soldiers) who were after them while the husband (Jamie or Alexander) was injured - not that the husbands weren't fighting too - Alexander in particular. Very reminiscent of Wentworth and the following events (no Murtagh here with them, though, but at least Alexander wasn't as badly hurt). There was even the "favorite prisoner" aspect with Jamie/BJR and Alexander/Karolich. At least Karolich didn't do all the stuff BJR did, though. And, neither wife accepted that nothing could be done despite people telling them not to go (Viki and Edward here and Dougal in Outlander).

And, the second book having them apart through a lot of it and all the flashbacks (not only of them together, which is a big chunk of Dragonfly, but other stuff with Alexander and a little of Tatiana and her family), is very similar to the structure of the Outlander series and DiA in particular. Not that I'm trying to say either author stole the idea or anything, but I found myself comparing them as I read.

I'm a bit worried about Stepanov. Having been removed from his post in Berlin, is he in trouble? Dead? Arrested? Clearly they know he knew Alexander because he was his commanding officer for years. He was also on the panel that left Alexander with the rank of captain to command the prison battalion. Then, he allowed the Red Cross into the camp, when none had been allowed before, and one of the nurses was Alexanders wife and then they both escaped when the Soviet Union wanted them. That can't be good for Stepanov. Mind you, he seemed pretty discouraged and I think he thought of Alexander as kind of a substitute son, so I think he was probably glad to help even if it caused him trouble and he was already surprised to have lasted as long as he did, so this wasn't the only issue. But, I suspect that he is dead or on his way there by the end of this. Which is too bad. He was a good guy.

Ouspensky really pissed me off, though. I so wanted him to be a friend to Alexander and he was betraying him all along. Not quite like Dimitri, but perhaps worse because he hid it better.

And, finding Pasha!

Someone commented that there were quite a few coincidences in this book to make things work, and I agree that that's true, but I was willing to accept that for the sake of the very engrossing story.

"Imitation is the sincerest of flattery."
Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon, volume I, no. 183
(1780 - 1832)

I suspect that Paullina Simons is a fan of DG. I just read the part in T&A where Alexander performs a battlefield tracheotomy on Pasha. Shades of Claire's emergency tracheotomy on Roger after he survived a botched hanging in FIERY CROSS?

Right, Susan. I had forgotten about that similarity also. There are quite a few parallels in the story and perhaps PS is a fan of DG (I didn't check publication dates, but I assume DG's came out earlier?). But, I think the stories are different enough for it not to be plagiarism. And, when you start looking, you can find lots of parallels between many books that are likely not intentional.

I agree! Nothing new is ever written, just rewritten in a different setting with different characters.

My sense is, at this point in T&A, that things are going to continue to get darker, particularly for Alexander. He has suffered so much, endured so much. And done so completely alone.