Russian history holds a fascination for me; it started because of a wonderful professor in college. It truly made it come alive. I was therefore quite thrilled to accept The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport from St. Martin’s Press for review. A copy was sent at no charge for my honest review.
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About The Romanov Sisters:
- From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Days of the Romanovs and Caught in the Revolution, The Romanov Sisters reveals the untold stories of the four daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra.They were the Princess Dianas of their day―perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses―Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov―were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle.Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography. With this treasure trove of diaries and letters from the grand duchesses to their friends and family, we learn that they were intelligent, sensitive and perceptive witnesses to the dark turmoil within their immediate family and the ominous approach of the Russian Revolution, the nightmare that would sweep their world away, and them along with it.The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. Helen Rappaport aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados.
About the Author:
HELEN RAPPAPORT studied Russian at Leeds University and is a specialist in Russian and nineteenth-century women’s history. She lives in Oxford.
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My Opinion:
There is a certain fascination with all things Romanov that I think anyone with a love for history holds. Their story is so tragic and the loss of what might have been has generated many a sigh. I’ve read many books about this period in history and quite a few of them have been focused on Nicolas and Alexandra but this is the first book to purport to speak solely for the four Grand Duchesses. Little is left to history of their private lives but what there is is well presented in this eminently readable non-fiction book.
The book does not solely focus on the girls as they did not live in a vacuum. It presents the full background of their parent’s love story and the struggle Alexandra had to fit into Russian society. Her “misfortune” in presenting the country with the four girls when it so needed a male heir caused her to be scorned which led her to just about hide from society. She wanted to live a life of domesticity with her husband and children. She did finally produce the heir, Alexey – but he had hemophilia. This was kept from the people of Russia at all costs so they would not know that he was sick.
All seemed to be going well and then as we all know from our history the Russian Revolution occurred and the royal family was sent to live in “protective custody” for their “safety.” But they were prisoners of the state. And all know their sad end.
I – and I hesitate to use the word enjoyed since the story is so sad – did enjoy the book. It read like fiction as opposed to non-fiction but the tale of this doomed family. The book is very well researched and extensively footnoted. The book does not take you to their demise so you can almost hope for a different ending for these four lively women who did not deserve the ending they received. As one chapter noted – it was perhaps too much mother love that killed them for if their mother had been willing to let them go they might have traveled to relatives and survived.
Rating:
4.5
