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When she was eleven years old, Bryn Turnbull accidentally put her foot through a single-pane window while leafing through a well-worn copy of Sandman (Volume 2). The incident, which resulted in a trip to the hospital, five stitches, and a unique application of superglue, taught her two things: one, that reading is not, and should not be attempted as, a full-contact sport; and two, that writers can create worlds within a book so absorbing, so completely and utterly all-encompassing, that they can drive readers to such distraction as to forget the outside world entirely.
Today, Bryn is a writer of historical fiction. Equipped with a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of St. Andrews and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from McGill University, Bryn, who resides in Toronto, writes books intended to drive readers to similar levels of distraction – to transport them into different eras and different worlds, but hopefully not into the hospital.
With a penchant for fountain pens that leak ink onto her fingers, antique furniture, and traveling, Bryn is, admittedly, an old soul with limited patience for modern conveniences - but if you want to get in touch with her, email - that most ancient of online technologies - is the best way to do it.
Bryn Turnbull's website
This bio was last updated on 11/01/2021. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
The Last Grand Duchess
Why write about Olga, rather than her better-known sister Anastasia?
As a frequently impersonated historical figure (the subject of an animated Fox movie) Anastasia holds a lot of interest to modern audiences—but as the protagonist of a book which focuses on the political dynamics surrounding the fall of the Romanovs, she's less compelling. Anastasia was a sixteen-year-old girl when she died, and an incredibly immature sixteen-year-old at that. Unlike her eldest sister Olga, who wrote frequently in her diaries about the political climate in Russia, Anastasia had teenage preoccupations: crushes, gossip, and lessons. By contrast, Olga was ideally situated not only as an intellectually engaged spectator to the last days of the Empire, but also as an active participant: of her siblings, she had the closest relationship with her father, giving her in-the-room access to the abdication and its aftermath, and her war-work as a Red Cross nurse gave her a unique perspective on how the war impacted not only the nobility, but the Russian population at large.
And of course, as a more mature young woman, Olga's personal life provided a real fascination as well. A grand duchess who falls in love with an officer? ...
Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Queens of Crime, The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie's Maid, ... (more)
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The Last Grand Duchess
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Melanie Benjamin is the New York Times bestselling author of The Children's Blizzard, Mistress of the Ritz, The Girls in the Picture, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, The Aviator's Wife, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, and ... (more)
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The Last Grand Duchess
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