The Last Russian Doll

In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land…

…a young girl lived happily in Moscow with her family: a sister, a father, and an eccentric mother who liked to tell fairy tales and collect porcelain dolls.

One summer night, everything changed, and all that remained of that family were the girl and her mother.

Now, a decade later and studying at Oxford University, Rosie has an English name, a loving fiancé, and a promising future, but all she wants is to understand—and bury—the past. After her mother dies, Rosie returns to Russia, armed with little more than her mother’s strange folklore—and a single key.

What she uncovers is a devastating family history that spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin’s purges, and beyond.

At the heart of this saga stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actions—and love for an idealistic man—will set off a sweeping story that reverberates across the century….

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Penguin Random House (Berkley).

Book club questions for The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

In the first chapter of The Last Russian Doll, Rosie finds a key in a porcelain doll’s head. Why do you think some people are drawn to dolls, and others find them repugnant? Do you find dolls to be uncanny or unsettling and, if so, why?

One of the main themes explored in The Last Russian Doll is silence versus speaking up, and the potential power of one’s voice. By the end of the novel, Rosie is able to speak aloud about her troubled past and Tonya has discovered the depth of her storytelling talent. What, in your view, is the significance of learning to tell your own story? Why might people choose not to?

Are you sympathetic to morally gray characters such as the Countess Natalya Burtsinova? What do you think is Natalya’s moral code, if she has any?

Rosie comments that names are just labels, whereas Lev thinks names have power. By the end, Rosie goes by Raisa. What is the significance of this change? Did you notice other name changes over the course of the novel?

What do you think of Rosie’s assertion that when it comes to the truth about her family, “There’s an answer, and I’ll keep going until I have it. However long it takes”? Do you agree that discovering the truth about a painful event in the past is worth that kind of effort? Why or why not?

How would you describe Tonya when we first meet her, in 1916? Contrast this with Tonya when we last see her, in 1992. Which life experiences, in your view, have shaped her the most? In an alternate reality, one without those experiences, what do you think Tonya’s life might have been like?

What do you think of the relationship between Tonya and Viktoria? How do you think they are able to forgive each other? Are their actions unforgivable? Why or why not?

Tonya and Valentin’s romance spans almost eight decades. Russian literature is known for its epic romances, many of which end tragically. What is the appeal of an epic love story? How does the enduring nature of the relationship between Valentin and Tonya contrast with the chaos and instability of the world in which they live? How would you feel if The Last Russian Doll had a different ending?

Katya erases the dedication to Lena in her mother’s notebook, but Rosie is able to decipher it years later. How does this symbolize the way the past can endure into the present? Can the past ever be fully erased? Should we try? Why or why not?

Do you think that Alexey got the ending he deserved?

The different layers of a matryoshka, or Russian nesting doll, are often depicted with the dolls holding various objects in their hands: one might hold a basket of strawberries, another a baby, another a bird. (The innermost doll can be so small that you can’t even tell what it’s holding!) Imagine the three generations of women in this novel were one matryoshka. Tonya would be the outermost and the largest, with Katya within. Rosie would be the smallest. What would each of the three of them be holding, and why?

The Last Russian Doll Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the The Last Russian Doll discussion questions

“This preternaturally absorbing intergenerational saga seamlessly weaves between two narratives set during peaks of modern Russian history… And in between, a lifetime’s worth of haunting mysteries shrouded in love, betrayal, secrets, danger, and lies.” —Buzzfeed

“…[A] masterly, unique, gripping novel.” —New York Journal of Books

“A richly detailed first novel that blends passion and romance with the history of Russia…Like the iconic Matryoshka dolls that are an intrinsic part of Russian culture, the stories of Antonina, Katya and Rosie — grandmothers, mothers and daughters — fit one inside the other. Together, in this provocative tale, they give us a better understanding of Russian culture, politics, and most of all, its people.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“With hauntingly beautiful prose Kristen Loesch has delivered an epic, dual timeline tale that deftly transports you to the Russian revolution and the life-altering crucible that came after it. Utterly compelling. You won’t be able to put it down.” —Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things