This is one of those books that I read and re-read so many times in my youth. I simply loved it and ended up with a withdrawn copy which the librarian gave me as she said I had earned it! Sadly, somewhere along the way it vanished. The original is available online if you have about £150 to spare so it is obviously a difficult book to track down.
So I was simply delighted to see that Margin Notes Books had republished Masha and they were kind enough to send me a copy. I devoured it in one afternoon and loved it all over again, and I cried all over again. Sometimes when you revisit favourite books you can be disappointed but not this time. I was transported back to my old junior library and to Miss Collins (who I know I have mentioned before) who became my great friend and let me 
take out twice the number of books I was allowed as I read so many.
I should have reviewed this before the end of the year but, as most of you know, I had a mad run up to Christmas and am only now just recovering, so my apologies for not writing about this before.
Masha travels to St Petersburg from her home in the country to attend the Smolni Institute for Noble Girls. Her family are impoverished though she qualifies by her noble birth. Girls were expected to study at the Institute for the full course of nine years and spend all their holidays at school. This means a parting from her widowed mother and the possibility that she may not seen her again. Masha is quiet and shy and has a hard time of it at first as she inadvertently lets out a breaking of the rules by other boarders when she is being interviewed. Innocently done but she is ignored and treated coldly on her arrival.
Alone in the garden one day she stumbles upon a tiny birch tree.
"The tree was a poor sight, with its pitifully thin trunk and its small leaves hanging forlornly from scrawny branches………'Now look here' she whispered 'don't be so unhappy. You feel uncomfortable because you are new but it will pass. I made a terrible mistake you know and now the girls will never speak to me again…….we both feel lonely so shouldn't we be friends? I will come to visit you and I will tell you all my secrets…."
Throughout her years at the Institute Masha talks to the tree and when, years later she is chosen to be a lady in waiting and leaves Smolni, she returns.
"Overcome by dreams she stood looking upward at the branch, now high among the leaves….with a laugh Masha flung her arms around the birch tree….'It is not a fairy tale I am going to live with a beautiful princess and be her faithful lady in waiting"
What a joy it was to read this again. As I said it reduced me to tears several times and as soon as I had read the last page I rushed to see if I could purchase the Youngest Lady in Waiting but, alas, they are well out of my price range. So I am sending a heartfelt plea to Margin Notes Books to see if you can republish that title as well. You will have my undying gratitude.
A simply gorgeous book, rich in history and touching and true. Marvellous description of life amongst all the pupils, the excitement of feast days, visit from the Imperial family, all vividly described. Please do get hold of a copy, read and let me know what you think. Ostensibly a book for young readers and teenagers, it can be read by adults as well, in fact I think I enjoyed it even more this time.
Wonderful.
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