Angel on the Square

by Gloria Whelan

Overview

From the author of the National Book Award-winning novel Homeless Bird comes “an absorbing saga”* about a young heroine coming of age in the tumultuous years leading up to the Russian revolution.

Gripping, accessible historical fiction that's perfect for schools and classrooms, as well as for fans of Ruta Sepetys and Elizabeth Wein.

In the fall of 1914, safe behind palace walls, Katya Ivanova sees St. Petersburg as a magical place.

The daughter of a lady in waiting to the Empress, Katya spends all her time with the Grand Duchesses, and the royal family feels like her own. But outside the palace, a terrible war is sweeping through Europe, and Russia is beginning to crumble under the weight of a growing revolution.

Now, as Katya’s once-certain future begins to dissolve, she must seek to understand what is happening to her beloved country and, for the first time in her life, take charge of her own destiny.

With her trademark lyricism, spare prose, and strong young heroine, award-winning author Gloria Whelan has again taken a chapter from history and transformed it into  compelling historical fiction.

*Kirkus

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061975783
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/18/2023
Series:	The Russian Saga , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	314
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	1 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gloria Whelan is the bestselling author of many novels for young readers, including Homeless Bird, winner of the National Book Award; Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect; Angel on the Square; Burying the Sun; Once on This Island, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; and Return to the Island. She lives in the woods of northern Michigan.

Gloria Whelan is the bestselling author of many novels for young readers, including Homeless Bird, winner of the National Book Award; Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect; Angel on the Square; Burying the Sun; Once on This Island, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; and Return to the Island. She lives in the woods of northern Michigan.

Read an Excerpt

Angel on the Square PLMChapter One

St. Petersburg
Winter 1913

I could feel the crowd holding its breath, awaiting the moment when Tsar Nikolai II and Empress Alexandra would arrive. On this February day all of St. Petersburg was celebrating three hundred years of rule by the Romanov Tsars. How I longed to be with Mama. As a special friend of the Empress, she was already in the cathedral. I burrowed deeper into my fur-lined coat to escape the winter winds that swept across Russia all the way from icy Siberia. The soft warmth of the coat curled around me like a friendly cat. From the balcony of our mansion Misha and I looked across St. Petersburg's main avenue, the Nevsky Prospekt, to the Kazan Cathedral. The cathedral's two wings seemed to gather in all of St. Petersburg.

Imperial carriages and shiny black chauffeured automobiles rolled up to the cathedral's entrance. Grand dukes in military uniform and grand duchesses in court gowns and diamond tiaras stepped onto the red carpet.

The city of St. Petersburg itself was dressed in an ermine robe of snow, its frozen river and canals glittering like the duchesses' diamonds. In the distance the sun shone on the brightly colored domes of the Church of the Resurrection. "Look, Misha," I said, "The domes look like a tumble of crown jewels."

He scowled. "You are a romantic child, Katya. When I look at that church, what I see is Alexander's blood."

"Misha, that was years ago," I scolded. The church was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II, Tsar Nikolai's grandfather, had been assassinated. When Mama was only a baby, she witnessed the terrible scene. Her papa held her up to see Tsar Alexanderonly seconds before the bomb went off. Even now, after so many years, she trembled when she told the story. "No one thinks of such things now," I said, but Misha's expression did not change. Misha would not let himself be happy. He was cheerful only when he was worrying himself to death.

Misha, whose proper name was Mikhail Sergeyevich Gnedich, was sixteen and thought he was a man. He attended the Tenishev School and lived with us, for his mama was my mama's dearest friend, as close to Mama as a sister. Misha's papa died bravely for Russia in a naval battle in faraway Manchuria. His mama died soon after of typhoid, though some said it was of a broken heart. When I was four, my own papa died in that war. Though Mama was very sad, she did not die like Misha's mother.

Misha was tall. He was also thin, and he looked as though he did not eat much, which was not true, because he ate all the time. He took such large portions, the footman who served him had to fight to keep a smile from his face. Misha had blond hair, which he smoothed down with water to tame the curls, so he always looked like he just came out of a bath.The naughty thing about Misha was that he was forever criticizing our beloved Tsar, which made everyone furious with him. Once Mama sent Misha away from the table for blaming the Tsar for the war in which his papa and my papa died.

Afterward, when I stole upstairs to Misha's room to take him food, Misha said, "It is time the Tsar let the people decide for themselves what is best for their country.""You are wrong," I said. "How can the people decide when they are uneducated and ignorant?"

Misha asked angrily, "Whose fault is it that they are uneducated?"

I told Misha that the Tsar, whom everyone called "Tsar-batyushev," "little father," was God's representative on earth and must surely know what was best for Russia. Misha's ideas were dangerous, and I worried that they would get him into trouble.

Now Misha turned away from the balcony. "I'm going down into the street with the people," he said, and added in a sarcastic tone, "I want to hear what they are saying on this glorious occasion."

"Misha, take me with you," I coaxed.

"With your fancy clothes and your furs?" He shook his head."Wait a moment," I pleaded. "I'll borrow something from the servants' hall."The servants were all at the windows watching the ceremony, so it was a simple thing to snatch an old wool cloak from its peg and slip away unseen. It must have belonged to a cook, because it smelled of onions and vinegar. There was little warmth in the cloak, for the wool was worn and thin.

Misha gave me one of his disapproving looks when I returned. "You must always have your own way, Katya. Your mother spoils you." That taunt was an old story with Misha. I paid no attention but followed him out a side door, hurrying to keep up, for he was stalking on ahead, pretending not to know me.

I had been on the Nevsky Prospekt hundreds of times, but always with Mama or my governess, Lidya. Never before had I seen such crowds. When I finally caught up, I hung on to Misha. As the people pressed against me, I whispered to him, "They smell."Under his breath Misha hissed, "They have no soap, and for that matter how much water can you carry up four flights of stairs?"

"Everyone has water in their houses," I protested.

"You are a fool, Katya. You know nothing of the world." He shook off my hand and pushed his way to the front of the crowd. The sun disappeared behind dark clouds. A wet snow began to fall. I pulled the thin cloak more closely about me.

An old babushka with no teeth held up a picture of the Tsar and Empress. Children waved small Russian flags, hopping from one foot to the other to keep warm. The cannons from the Peter and Paul Fortress sounded a twenty-one-gun salute. Cheers grew into a roar . . .

Angel on the Square PLM. Copyright © by Gloria Whelan. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

Angel on the Square is an elegant and insightful novel about an aristocratic girl's experience of the Russian Revolution. As the daughter of one of the Empress's ladies-in-waiting, young Katya is sheltered from much of Russia's turmoil. Her coming-of-age in the shadow of one of history's darkest times is a political and personal awakening that is at once enlightening and universal.

Discussion Questions

1. At the beginning of the book, Katya and Misha have very different opinions about what is happening in Russia. Can you describe these differences? What do you think makes each so certain that their idea is right?
   
   
2. Misha is certain that most Russians are not happy. Why does he believe this? Are there any indications in the text that this is the case?
   
   
3. What is your opinion of the Tzar and Empress? How well do you think they performed as rulers? Do you think they could have done something to have avoided the revolution?
   
   
4. What is significant about the angel on the square?
   
   
5. What are your impressions of Rasputin? Was the Empress wrong to seek his counsel? Do you think he helped or harmed the country?
   
   
6. On page 172, Mama tells Katya, "The country may be better off…but when it takes a murder to save a country, nothing will save it." What do you think she means?
   
   
7. As a result of the war, how has Katya changed emotionally and intellectually? How does she see her future?
   
   
8. How has the ordeal of fighting in a war and witnessing the revolution changed the way Misha sees the future of Russia?
   
   
9. Katya andMisha's opinions about Russian politics had been so different. Has that changed by the end of the novel? How and why?

About the author

Gloria Whelan is a poet and the award-winning author of many books for young readers, including Homeless Bird, for which she was awarded the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Miranda's Last Stand, and The Island Trilogy. She lives with her husband, Joseph, in the woods of northern Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Author Gloria Whelan is known for her penchant for historical fiction and foreign lands. The National Book Award-winning Homeless Bird told of the strife endured by a 13-year-old girl in India, and Return to the Island told of another girl's romantic quandaries in the 1800s. Angel on the Square introduces readers to Katya Ivanova, a 13-year-old living in St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution. Her mother is a lady-in-waiting to the Empress, and Katya's life in the imperial palace is lush -- and safe. The rest of Russia, however, is in turmoil as revolutionary ideas inflame the populace, and Katya is torn. She initially does not want to hear of fighting and disruption, but she slowly begins to understand the pleas of the poor. Katya begins to think outside the palace walls, and soon she herself understands firsthand the meaning of poverty.

Whelan uses her keen grasp of language and imagery to portray the tumultuous state of Russia in 1917. She shows Katya grow from an immature child to a young woman with heart. Readers will identify with her inner struggle and her battles. When her family is torn apart and her status is stripped away, Katya reveals the depths of her character. This compelling novel offers young readers a chance to explore their own worlds through the eyes of this lovely young Russian. (Amy Barkat)

bn.com

Whelan (Homeless Bird) shows both sides of the Russian revolution in a sympathetic light in this absorbing saga of an aristocratic girl. The novel opens in 1913, just before Katya goes to live with Tsar Nikolai II, when her widowed mother becomes lady-in-waiting to the Empress. The royal couple and their children are like a second family to Katya. Still, the heroine cannot completely support the tsar's treatment of his people. Guided by her revolutionist friend, Misha, she witnesses the exploitation of workers in the city. Later, her exposure to country peasants forces her to realize that her own noble family is partially responsible for the peasants' suffering. On the other hand, Katya does not condone the violent reaction to oppression that is sweeping across her beloved country. Tracing each stage of Katya's enlightenment through intimate first-person narrative, Whelan brings immediacy to the historical events, offering well-rounded depictions of characters and vivid descriptions of their surroundings. The author sharply contrasts the luxurious conditions Katya enjoys in her early adolescence with the meagerness of her life five years later at the revolution's end. The book's uncomplicated language and sensitive treatment of political issues make it an excellent, vibrant introduction to the cause and effects of Tsar Nikolai's fall. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5-9-A balanced, if dispassionate, account of the Russian Revolution. When the Empress invites her mother to be a lady-in-waiting, Katya, 12, moves to the Alexander Palace where she serves as a companion to the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Katya's "cousin" Misha has joined the student revolutionaries and disapproves of Katya's defense and love of the tsar. When Nicholas II abdicates and the family is imprisoned in their home, Katya and her mother are sent away from the family they love. With nowhere else to go, they travel to their summer dacha only to find it has been destroyed. Living and working with the local peasants, Katya works to build a new life from the ruins of the old, first by constructing a cottage for her mother, then by going back to St. Petersburg with Misha to start a new life. Brought up in wealth and luxury, she knows nothing of the hardships suffered by the Russian people until shown by Misha, who provides glimpses into the lives of the revolutionaries, the poor, and eventually the soldiers. As events unfold around her, Katya grows and changes, and is able to survive in the world that emerges. While not as engaging as Homeless Bird (HarperCollins, 2000)-the story is told with a very matter-of-fact, first-person narration-Angel on the Square will attract readers, especially lovers of historical fiction. Pair it with Carolyn Meyer's Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914 (Scholastic, 2000) for younger readers and I Am Anastasia (Harcourt, 1959; o.p.) for older readers who have fallen under the spell of the last Grand Duchess.-Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

A young Russian aristocrat comes of age during the Great War and the Russian Revolution. In 1913, 13-year-old Katya's life is good: she is about to join the Tsar's household with her Mama, who has just been appointed Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress. Her best friend and foster brother Misha, a young intellectual with revolutionary leanings, cannot dampen her enthusiasm with his talk of the people's privations and dire predictions of war, but over the course of the next five years, Katya witnesses the outbreak of war and both revolutions, and is eventually reduced to the life of a peasant. Trying to encapsulate this particular sweep of history in 300 pages is no easy task, and Whelan ("Homeless Bird", 2000, etc.) clearly struggles with the challenge of establishing sympathy for the Tsar's family while at the same time allowing her protagonist to understand the depths of the social injustice that ultimately brings about her downfall. This results in a character who ultimately observes but never acts. When the royal family heads to the army's headquarters, they do so in luxuriously appointed railroad cars; on the same train, soldiers travel to the front in empty boxcars. Katya is "embarrassed by our show of luxury. I wondered what the soldiers thought of us as they watched us climb into our comfortable quarters, trailed by servants and piles of luggage." While this is possibly psychologically consistent and clearly serves a narrative purpose, it is unsatisfying. Still, the novel serves as an introduction, if inevitably oversimplified and largely devoid of political discussion, to a complicated and important period in world history, and from a perspective that will naturally appeal to kidswhose exposure to the events is from animated videos. (glossary) "(Fiction. 10-15)"

Kirkus Reviews