Review: Gone by Nightfall by Dee Garretson

Gone by Nightfall by Dee Garretson

Published by Swoon Reads on January 2020
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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A young woman is torn between her home and her dreams during the Russian Revolution.

It’s 1917, and Charlotte Mason is determined to make a life for herself in czarist Russia. When her mother dies, Charlotte is forced to put her plans to go to medical school aside to care for her unruly siblings. Then a handsome new tutor arrives. Charlotte has high hopes that he’ll stay, freeing her up to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor. But there’s more to Dmitri that meets the eye.

Just when she thinks she can get her life back, Russia descends into revolution and chaos. Now, not only does Charlotte need to leave Russia, she needs to get her siblings out too--and fast.

Can Charlotte flee Russia, keep her siblings safe, and uncover Dmitri’s many secrets before she runs out of time?

I really enjoyed this story set in during the Russian Revolution.

What really swept me away was the setting. The author does a fantastic job of describing Russia during this time, the details of the starving society that rose up to revolt. I loved the way the cold, the hunger, the panic were all major characters in the book. The unrest of the city is palpable on the ages and as the story unfolds, that rises to the surface more and more until, like the revolution, it cannot be ignored. The constant fear of the secret police and being thrown in jail for no reason, this is the world the characters are operating in so everything, even the littlest of things, is heightened by the setting.

Charlotte Mason is a compassionate heroine. Her mother has died leaving her to be the female authority in the house. She takes care of her family, mostly her brothers and sisters, but also is a nurse at the local hospital that her mother helped found.

As the city plummets into chaos and Charlotte finally comes to the realization she has to get her family out, again the strong setting and time come into play. The suspense really hits about half way through the book and I can honestly say it had me. I couldn’t read anything else. I needed to finish this book.

Overall, I think the story moved fast and the characters and plot were easy to follow and root for. But I’m still thinking about the setting, about that time period and the well written story about the collapse of the large dynasty.