History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

The Tsarina’s Daughter Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: 2008 Pages: 332 Source: My State Public Library  Synopsis: From the bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a dramatic novel and powerful love story about the last Russian imperial family.      It is 1989 and Daria Gradov is an elderly grandmother living in the rural West. What neighbors and even her children don't know, however, is that she is not who she claims to be—the widow of a Russian immigrant of modest means. In actuality she began her life as the Grand Duchess Tatiana, known as Tania to her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.      And so begins the latest entrancing historical entertainment by Carolly Erickson. At its center is young Tania, who lives a life of incomparable luxury in pre-Revolutionary Russia, from the magnificence of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg ...

  The Last Grand Duchess Author: Bryn Turnbull Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Harlequin Release Date: March 1, 2022 Pages: 400 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: This sweeping novel takes readers behind palace walls to see the end of Imperial Russia through the eyes of Olga Romanov, the first daughter of the last tsar.      Grand Duchess Olga Romanov comes of age amid a shifting tide for the great dynasties of Europe. But even as unrest simmers in the capital, Olga is content to live within the confines of the sheltered life her parents have built for her and her three sisters: hiding from the world on account of their mother’s ill health, their brother Alexei’s secret affliction, and rising controversy over Father Grigori Rasputin, the priest on whom the tsarina has come to rely. Olga’s only escape from the seclusion of Alexander Palace comes from the grand tea parties her aunt hosts amid the shadow court of Saint...

Empress Alexandra: The Special Relationship Between Russia’s Last Tsarina and Queen Victoria Author: Melanie Clegg Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography Publisher: Pen and Sword History Release Date: 2020 Pages: 208 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Melanie Clegg takes a fresh and intimate look at the close relationship that existed between the last Empress of Russia and her grandmother Queen Victoria.      When Queen Victoria’s second daughter Princess Alice married the Prince Louis of Hesse and Rhine in 1862 even her own mother described the ceremony as ‘more of a funeral than a wedding’ thanks to the fact that it took place shortly after the death of Alice’s beloved father Prince Albert. Sadly, the young princess’ misfortunes didn’t end there and when she also died prematurely, her four motherless daughters were taken under the wing of their formidable grandmother, Victoria. Alix, the youngest of Alice’s daughters and al...

The Tsarina’s Daughter Author: Ellen Alpsten Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: March 15, 2022 Pages: 487 Source: This book was given to me as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review/ Synopsis: Ellen Alpsten's stunning new novel, The Tsarina's Daughter , is the dramatic story of Elizabeth, daughter of Catherine I and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia during an extraordinary life marked by love, danger, passion and scandal.      Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and his wife, Catherine, a former serf, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the envy of the Russian empire. She is insulated by luxury and spoiled by her father, who dreams for her to marry King Louis XV of France and rule in Versailles. But when a woodland creature gives her a Delphic prophecy, her life is turned upside down. Her volatile father suddenly dies, her only brother has been executed and her mother takes the throne of...

Tsarina Author: Ellen Alpsten Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: 2020 Pages: 480 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power.      St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself.      Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful gener...

Elizabeth, Empress of Russia Author: Tamora Talbot Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Release Date: 1970 Pages: 231 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: Born in 1709, the illegitimate daughter of Peter the Great and a woman of Livonian yeoman stock, Elizabeth was the only on of the Tsar's many children to survive to maturity. She lived through the reigns of four monarchs after her father's death, before seizing the throne in 1741 at the age of thirty-two. Faced with governing a country made unstable by frequent changes of ruler and caught up in web of international politics, she evolved a policy that set Russia on the road to becoming a major Western power. Elizabeth, beautiful, vivacious and immensely popular, with some of her father's genius for government, was often irresolute and fickle. She was a paradoxical woman - generous and spontaneous yet capable of inflicting the most savage of punishments, vain and hedonistic yet wit...

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon Author: Linda Lafferty Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Release Date: September 20, 2016 Pages: 442 Source: This book was given to me by TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review Synopsis: In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.      It’s 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother’s footsteps. She’s a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home.      Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations—she as a hero...

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman Author: Robert K. Massie Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, History Publisher: Random House Release Date: 2012 Pages: 672 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: Pulitzer Prize winner Massie offers the tale of a princess who went to Russia at 14 and became one of the most powerful women in history.       Born into minor German nobility, she transformed herself into an empress by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant, curious mind, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers, and reaching the throne, tried using their principles to rule the vast, backward empire. She knew or corresponded with notable figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette & John Paul Jones.       Wanting to be the “benevolent despot” Montesquieu idealized, she contended with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered...