2 out of 4 stars
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A Cossack's house by Marie Washtag was originally written in Serbian but was translated into English by Milica Kostic. The story was written in a time of war and centers around Diana, a Yugoslavian. She was a divorcee at the age of twenty-eight with no children. Diana and her mum went to Russia to visit her grandmother fondly called Babushka who married a Cossack. There, she met Anatoly, also known as Tolik, and started an affair with him against her better judgment because Tolik was known to be a womanizer and a drunk. To her amazement, Tolik proposed to her and asked her to stay but she didn't give him a reply. Time passed and she and her mum had to go back home because their visa was about to expire. She told Tolik she would come back and Tolik could come to visit. However, that didn't happen until 10 years later. Babushka, not having kids of her own, died and left Diana her house so she had to travel back to Russia to claim her inheritance. Valya, Tolik's mum arranged for her to come back and rallied to get the necessary papers ready for her to append her signature and possess her house. Unknown to her, Valya had other evil plans. Journeying to a foreign country on her own where she barely understood the language, will she be able to claim what is rightfully hers? Will she make it out alive? Will her love still be waiting for her?
Marie Washtag did a good job with the storyline. I think it's pretty unique and could go far. I liked Tamara, Diana's friend, the most. She was like an angel in disguise. Being a Russian and also able to speak Serbian, Diana's language, she helped Diana out of dire situations. She was Diana's lucky charm. To think Diana didn't want to have anything to do with her when they first met.
What I liked least about the book was its lack of editing. I feel the book wasn't edited at all. The errors are overwhelming. There are errors in almost every page. At a point, I got tired of counting. I guess the translator did a direct translation most of the time. The book also lacks punctuations so most of the words were muddled up together. I think chapters/sections should be put in the book as it lacked it. Also, between page 110 and 111, it's obvious there is a missing piece because Diana was swimming alone at the end of page 110 and suddenly at the beginning of page 111 she was having a full-blown conversation with Tamara. I believe an epilogue should be tying loose ends about the characters in a book. The epilogue in this book was talking about the history of the Cossack people!
For all the above reasons, I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. The errors were terribly distracting. The writer needs to let this book go through professional hands for editing.
I recommend this book to romance lovers. It has no sexual scenes but promises to be an enjoyable read after proper editing has been done of course!
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Cossack's House
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