By the age of seven she can bake and ice a three-tiered cake and polish parquet floors to perfection. So begins the unusual childhood of Annika, brought up in the house of three eccentric professors by their two domestic servants. Simply scrumptious! If you are looking for a historical read with a good storyline that is suitable for both adults and children then I would say go ahead and read this book.In a tiny alpine church, on a June day in 1897, an abandoned baby girl is found by a middle-aged cook from Vienna. I would also highly recommend it for food lovers I absolutely loved the descriptions of the Viennese recipes for meals and desserts. Some of the highlights in the book were the Giant Wheel and the Imperial Spanish Riding School. However, what she lacks in, her friend Pauline makes up for with her bravery and fierce nature despite her agoraphobia (fear of crowded places). This is one criticism that I have as I felt she was a bit ungrateful towards Ellie and Sigrid who found and raised her I expected more loyalty on her part. Annika herself is kind, though not as rebellious and spirited as I would have liked her to be. I really enjoyed how unconventional the professors were with their set routines and interests. The characterisation of her gypsy friend Zed, and the three professors were particularly excellent. Although she faces some hardships in the story, I would overall describe it as a feel-good novel because that is how I felt at the end of the book. The Star of Kazan is a story about a girl called Annika who is trying to find her way in the world.

Eva Ibbotson’s hugely entertaining story is a timeless classic for readers young and old. But at crumbling, spooky Spittal Annika discovers that all is not as it seems in the lives of her new-found family. After years of guilt and searching, Annika’s mother has come to claim her daughter, who is in fact a Prussian aristocrat and whose true home is a great castle. And sure enough, one day a glamorous stranger arrives at the door.

She is happy there but dreams of the day when her real mother will come to find her.

They take her home, and Annika grows up in the servants’ quarters of a house belonging to three eccentric Viennese professors. Book Blurb: In 1896, in a pilgrim church in the Alps, an abandoned baby girl is found by a cook and a housemaid.

The star of kazan by eva ibbotson