The Pretender by Mary Morrissy (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)

The brutal murder of the Romanov family, the last royal dynasty of Russia, and the mystery that surrounded the existence of their mutilated bodies is as strange as it is tragic. The idea that one of the victims - Anastasia, the Tsar's youngest daughter - could have somehow survived is more than a myth; it testifies to the power of hope. Various impostors emerged over the years, each with her own story, but none with quite the elaborate range of conviction and physical proof emanating from ulein Fraulein Unbekannt, the Unknown One, rescued from a Berlin canal in the winter of 1920. Morrissy's superb second novel draws the reader into an intriguing historical maze. But her elegant, meticulous and skilfully layered, Atwood-like narrative goes far beyond the glamour of Anastasia's incredible survival. Slowly and carefully Morrissy creates not only the personality of the calmly deranged young woman but also evokes the sad reality of the life she was eager to flee. In opening the door to an invented past, the action moves backward rather than forward.

Throughout the vivid narrative there are key moments - a detail, a chance meeting, facts introduced in passing which are later elaborated. Above all, there is the detailed journey back to the earliest childhood dreams, betrayals and crimes that prepared the central character for a rejection of her self and the claiming of the identity of another. A highly intelligent, relentless, even austere performance, it somehow never loses sight of the insanity, desperate humour and humanity of an individual intent on escaping herself.