Hello everyone!
Thank you so much for reading my story, I love connecting with you and am so thankful for and flattered by all your kind feedback on my story!
It is because of this feedback that I just wanted to tell you guys a bit more behind the inspiration for this story.
One of my favorite movies growing up was the animated film Anastasia, and recently, I got the chance to see the stage musical adaptation of the movie. There is a moment in the musical om a song called In A Crowd of Thousands (inspiration for the chapter Once Upon A December) where two of the characters, Anya and Dmitry (my inspiration for Kate and Johnny), sing a song where Anya remembers a moment she met Dmitry as a child that leads her to realize she is the lost princess Anastasia Romanov.
I am a big fan of the Selection series, and the character of Anya reminds me a lot of America. I was listening to the Anastasia soundtrack, and the idea of a story in the Selection universe involving Eadlyn's daughter Kerttu sort of just came to me. In Anastasia, a young woman named Anya is longing to go to Paris to find her family who might be there, and the aspect of Ahren Schreave living in France really helped me get down what the story could look like, and I am so glad so many people are enjoying it!
Anastasia is a wonderful and beautiful movie and musical, but the really interesting thing about it is both are based on the true story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, who was the youngest daughter of the last Czar of Russia. During the Russian Revolution, Anastasia and the rest of the Russian Royal Family were held captive and eventually very tragically executed by the revolutionary government, but in the years after the execution, there were many rumors that Anastasia and her younger brother survived because their bodies initially could not be found. There also were several women who came forward claiming to be Anastasia, most notably a woman named Anna Anderson. More bodies of the Romanov family were eventually found, and DNA testing was done that confirmed that both Anastasia and her younger brother were brutally killed with the rest of their family. Anastasia was just 17, and it is so tragic that her life was cut so short. I love that there have been movies and stories that imagine what it might have been like if she survived, and I suppose, in a way, my story too is inspired by the legend of Anastasia! I just wanted to share this because the history of the Romanov family is very fascinating, and I hope it adds an extra layer to this story. I will leave some links before for further info for anyone interested!
About the Romanovs and Anastasia:
Movie Trailer:
Musical Trailers:
Crowd of Thousands:
Link for tickets to the National Tour of the musical:
https://anastasiathemusical.com/tour/
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Things I Almost Remember: A Selection Story
FanfictionIn the years after Illéa became a constitutional monarchy, the transition proved less simple than Queen Eadlyn had predicted, and unrest continued to grow. A new and violent faction of Northern Rebels led by Marid Illéa eventually rose up and storme...
