Empathy in times of deep divides, a guest post by Carolyn Tara O’Neil

My debut novel Daughters of a Dead Empire is set more than 100 years ago, but my teen protagonists wrestle with problems that still resonate today. The two main characters come from opposite backgrounds and opposing sides of the Russian Civil War. Over the course of their journey they are forced to rely on each other for survival – and so, inevitably, they slowly get to know one another, to understand each other’s beliefs, and to question their own neat versions of the world.

In my day job I train social studies teachers to implement “Action Civics” – that is, to teach students civics by having them take action on an issue they’re passionate about. I have spoken to many educators who have one question top of mind: how do I get my students to empathize with one another? When they’re standing on opposite sides of an issue, how do I move them towards compromise and collaboration?

In my work with Generation Citizen, we do this by focusing on social & emotional learning skills: listening. Showing curiosity. Examining your own feelings and assumptions. Practicing open-mindedness. Building relationships and community with others. Our students engage in a process of consensus-building, through which they agree on a single issue, root cause, and policy goal to advocate for together.

In Daughters of a Dead Empire my characters start off very far apart. The novel is set in 1918 Russia, in the middle of a civil war. One main character is Anastasia Romanov, who has just seen her entire family murdered by the Bolshevik government. The other is Evgenia, a peasant girl whose family suffered and starved under Romanov rule. She joined the Bolshevik Party to build a better world for those she loves. 

Anastasia and Evgenia are forced to fight side by side as they’re chased by the Red Army – Anastasia for who she is, and Evgenia for the moment’s mercy she showed to Anastasia. As they flee, inevitably, they talk. They listen to each other. They learn about the pain the other girl has lived through, and they find that their own allies and friends caused the other girl’s trauma. They grow to care about and respect each other.

In effect, they do the same thing that any reader does when we pick up a book: we step into the shoes of someone different from us. We open our minds to the inner workings of someone else’s brain. And when that happens to me, whenever I explore the perspective of a fascinating, new character, I find myself reminded that, no matter how far apart, we all depend on one another for our survival. 

Meet the author

Carolyn Tara O’Neil grew up in a tiny New York City apartment filled with thousands of books. Every Friday she went to the public library for even more reading material. She now lives in a slightly smaller NYC apartment with slightly fewer books, and still goes to the library every week. In between then and now, Carolyn has dedicated her career to the education and rights of young people. She loves to travel, study languages, and spend endless hours discussing TV, books, great hiking trails, and how we can work together to build a more equal society. Her debut novel, Daughters of a Dead Empire, is out now.

About Daughters of a Dead Empire

From debut author Carolyn Tara O’Neil comes a thrilling alternate history set during the Russian Revolution.

Russia, 1918: With the execution of Tsar Nicholas, the empire crumbles and Russia is on the edge of civil war—the poor are devouring the rich. Anna, a bourgeois girl, narrowly escaped the massacre of her entire family in Yekaterinburg. Desperate to get away from the Bolsheviks, she offers a peasant girl a diamond to take her as far south as possible—not realizing that the girl is a communist herself. With her brother in desperate need of a doctor, Evgenia accepts Anna’s offer and suddenly finds herself on the wrong side of the war.

Anna is being hunted by the Bolsheviks, and now—regardless of her loyalties—Evgenia is too.

Daughters of a Dead Empire is a harrowing historical thriller about dangerous ideals, inequality, and the price we pay for change. An imaginative retelling of the Anastasia story.

ISBN-13: 9781250755537
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication date: 02/22/2022
Age Range: 14 – 18 Years

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