Caught in the Revolution by 
The Race to Save the Romanovs by 
Russia 1917: Beautiful, educated Svetlana Petrova defied her stifling aristocratic family to join a revolution promising freedom. Now, released after years of imprisonment, she discovers her socialist party vying for power against the dictatorial Bolsheviks and her beloved uncle, a champion of her cause, was murdered by a mysterious assassin named Orlova. Her signature? Blinding her victims before she kills them. Svetlana resolves to avenge his death by destroying this vicious opponent, even as she longs to reunite with the daughter she has not seen in years.
USSR 1941: Now living in obscurity in a remote village, Svetlana opens her home to Mila Rozovskaya, the eighteen-year-old granddaughter from Leningrad she has never met. She hopes to protect Mila from the oncoming Nazi invasion, but when the enemy occupies the village, Svetlana sees the young woman fall under the spell of the resistance—echoing her once-passionate idealism. As Mila takes up her fight, dangerous secrets and old enemies soon threaten all Svetlana holds dear. To protect her family, she must confront her long-buried past—yet if the truth emerges victorious, it holds the power to save or shatter them. A risk Svetlana has no choice but to take.
1. Compare and contrast the women in this story: Svetlana, Vera, Fanya, and Mila. What similarities and differences do they share as young women active in their causes? How do Mila and Svetlana compare and contrast in their youth, and what changes do you find in the woman Svetlana was versus the woman Mila knows as Babushka? Do you think Fanya, Svetlana, and Vera were true friends to one another or not? How does Vera change when acting as Orlova, and does her role shift or change as her years working for the Cheka—then, as it evolved, the NKVD—progress? What similarities do you find in all these women throughout their lives? What differences?
2. Sight is a key theme and symbol utilized throughout this story: Fanya suffers from deteriorating vision, Orlova blinds her victims, and Svetlana loses her eyesight. Discuss the message this represents in relation to the choices these characters make—those related to their political views, family life, romantic interests, etc.
3. Discuss the politics in the story— the imperialism of the Old Regime, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Bolshevik Party, Nazi Germany, and the USSR. What did you learn about these parties and their conflicts? Do you think the Russian Revolution resulted in a government the people wanted or expected? Discuss positive and negative outcomes of the revolution. Do you notice any similarities or differences between Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party versus Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party?
4. Svetlana falls in love with Kazimir, Mila with Daniil. Do you think these were healthy relationships? Why or why not? How do both men seem similar and differ? What do you think both women saw in their love interests? If their lives had turned out differently, do you think either relationship would have lasted? Discuss Svetlana’s relationship with Sergei.
5. Mila fights her battles with poison, Svetlana with a pistol. What do these weapons and approaches say about these women?
6. One of Svetlana’s most difficult decisions is her choice to place her daughter, Tatiana, in a foundling hospital for safety until the revolution is over. Do you agree this was the wisest choice, and do you think this choice was made from motherly concern, obsession with revolutionary participation, or a combination of both? How did this decision impact her emotionally and psychologically, and what effect did it have on Tatiana? How did her broken relationship with her own mother impact the way Tatiana parents Mila?
7. What do you think family means to these characters, especially Mila, Svetlana, and Tatiana?
8. What does the novel’s title, Daughters of Victory, mean to you? What triumphs do these characters experience? What failures? Do you feel these characters are victorious? Do you think they feel they are victorious? Do you think the concept of victory and what it means to them changes throughout the course of the story?
