The Crown and the Crucible — Judith Pella; Michael Phillips

A magnificent saga of love and war, of political conflict and imminent change, of two women- -- Against the vast and formidable backdrop of pre-revolutionary Russia, the lives of two families become inextricably entwined. -- Anna Yevnovna Burenin, a peasant girl from the tine village of Katyk, must leave the home she loved to work in a prince's palace in St. Petersburg, bringing her family's heritage of faith with her.

Anna's future is altered forever when she is thrust into the presence of the high-minded, spoiled Princess Katrina. But even as Anna's own life is changed, her faith exerts a transforming influence over the willful young princess.

But the life of protected royalty in St. Petersburg cannot be isolated forever from the forces that buffet the mighty Russian Empire. While grand dukes and their duchesses celebrate New Year's at the Tsar's legendary Winter Palace, revolution brews and war in the Balkans seems inevitable. Both peasant and princess face the prospect of their beloved Russia being torn apart by conflict within and without.

Caught in the crosscurrents of history, who will survive?