The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar

Leonka returns to Maria and finds her close to death. He moves Maria and Aleksei’s body to a safer hiding spot in the woods before running into town to find Sister Antonina and Novice Marina. He tells them what happened, and they gather medical supplies and rush into the woods to help Maria.

Leonka, Sister Antonina, and Novice Marina reunite with Maria. Sister Antonina and Marina tend to her wounds and feed her. Leonka then helps the women bury Aleksei’s body. The next day, Maria develops a fever and is beyond help. As she dies, she tells Leonka and Novice Marina to bury the Romanovs’ remaining riches, some of which are hidden in town. She commands them to keep the Romanovs’ gems hidden until the end of Bolshevik rule; then, they are to return the riches to the people.

Adult Leonka tells Kate that Maria’s final words effectively “married the Novice Maria and me in both duty and fate” (198). They went on to flee Russia with the Romanov riches, marry, and settle in the United States for the rest of their lives. According to his tale, Leonka’s wife “May” was Marina.

Adult Leonka concludes his recording for Kate. He seals the tape in an envelope, gathers other documents, and unlocks a secret vault hidden behind his bookcase—where he keeps the Romanov gems. He and May sold some of the Romanovs’ riches to escape Russia and establish a life in America. He reflects on the fact that the gems’ safekeeping will now be Kate’s burden.

Leonka takes a vial of cyanide out of the vault and reflects on the tape’s lies. He hopes Kate believes his true identity is Leonka, “when in fact nothing could be further from the truth” (207). While he was stationed at Ipatiev House to witness all of the events he described, he is not Leonka; it was May’s idea to have him claim this identity. He prays that God does not forgive his sins and drinks the cyanide, killing himself. 

The Epilogue follows Kate (or Katya) as she travels to St. Petersburg in 2001, having followed the trail prompted by her grandfather’s tapes. She meets with Dr. Kostrovsky, the director of the Hermitage Museum, to discuss the return of the Romanov gems to the Russian people. After the meeting, Kate takes a taxi to a mysterious address.

Kate arrives at the address. The babushka who answers the door is initially uncertain, but upon hearing Kate’s voice, invites her inside. Kate tells the old woman about her grandfather’s tapes: She reconsidered his story after her son, Andrew, was diagnosed with hemophilia—the same affliction suffered by Aleksei Romanov. She researched the Romanovs’ final days and those who witnessed them—which led her to a British historian who gave her the old woman’s address.

Kate’s research revealed that the address is listed under the name “Marina.” The old woman confirms she is Novice Marina. Marina tells Kate the truth regarding the Romanovs’ assassination: The “White Army’s” letters were fakes, written by the Bolsheviks to trick the Romanovs. These letters were smuggled into Ipatiev House by Kate’s grandfather, a Bolshevik guard named Volodya.

Volodya was assigned to kill Maria. He injured but did not kill Maria; he later found her alive on the side of the road and treated her wounds. Marina reveals that she and Sister Antonina helped Volodya save Maria’s life. She then reveals that Kate’s grandmother May was Maria herself. Volodya and Maria fled Russia with the Romanov riches, married, and settled in America under fake identities—making Kate and her children the last living descendants of the Romanovs.