Download or read book The Romanov Empress written by C. W. Gortner and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir comes a dramatic novel of the beloved Empress Maria, the Danish princess who became the mother of the last Russian tsar. “This epic tale is captivating and beautifully told.”—Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir, Alexander, and once he ascends the throne, becomes empress. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love. Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has led her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache. From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it. Praise for The Romanov Empress “Timely . . . [Gortner’s] ability to weave what reads as a simple tale from such complex historical and familial storylines is impressive. . . . Maria’s life as a royal reads like a historical soap opera.”—USA Today “Gortner, an experienced hand at recreating the unique aura of a particular time and place, will deftly sweep historical-fictions fans into this glamorous, turbulent, and ultimately tragic chapter in history.”—Booklist (starred review) “Mesmerizing . . . This insightful first-person account of the downfall of the Romanov rule . . . is the powerful story of a mother trying to save her family and an aristocrat fighting to maintain rule in a country of rebellion.”—Publishers Weekly “A twist on the tragic story you’ve heard many times before.”—Bustle

Download or read book Little Mother of Russia written by Coryne Hall and published by Holmes & Meier Pub. This book was released on 2006-07-15 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Fatal Passion written by Michael John Sullivan and published by Random House (NY). This book was released on 1997 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicling the years from 1876 to 1939, "A Fatal Passion" tells the compelling story of Grand Duchess Victoria Melita, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Emperor Alexander of Russia, and the tragic aftermath of the Russian Revolution. of photos.

Download or read book Empress Alexandra written by Melanie Clegg and published by Pen and Sword History. This book was released on 2020-09-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 allegedly one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, was a special favorite of the elderly queen, who hoped that she would marry her cousin Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and one day reign beside him as Queen. However, the spirited and stubborn Alix had other ideas...

Download or read book The Tragic Empress written by Sophie Buxhoeveden and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empress Alexandra Romanov - the last empress of Russia, wife of Tsar Nicholas II, and now a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church - chose Countess Sophie Buxhoeveden, one of her ladies-in-waiting, to be her authorized biographer, opening up to her about her closest relationships and giving her access to copies of her private correspondence. Additionally, as a lady-in-waiting, Countess Buxhoeveden attended on the Empress for much of the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, only leaving her side when the Imperial Family was removed to Tobolsk after the Tsar's abdication in 1917. Thereafter, she followed the Empress to Tobolsk, and then to Ekaterinburg, where the entire Imperial Family, some of the Court suite and some of their servants met their deaths on July 17, 1918. The portrait the Countess paints of the Empress is of a warm, shy, kind and generous woman, devoted to Russia, her husband and her children, deeply charitable in word and deed, and a committed friend and mistress, but ill-starred, physically sick, maligned, misunderstood and much plotted against. The character descriptions in this book also include those for Tsar Nicholas, each of the children - OTMA and the Tsarevitch - Grand Duchess Ella (the Empress' sister), Ania Vyrubova (the Empress' most intimate friend), Rasputin and Kerensky (the Head of the Provisional Government that took power after the abdication of the Tsar and before the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks). The narrative also describes in detail the daily domestic life of the Imperial Family, and each of their trips to other parts of Russia and abroad in peace and war. It is rare for the author of any authorized biography to know her subject so familiarly and for so long, and to have been a first-hand witness to almost everything that happened for much of her life, and it is this that makes 'The Tragic Empress' such an intriguing and compelling book.

Download or read book The Last Empress written by Greg King and published by . This book was released on 2006-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Sisters of the Crescent Empress written by Leena Likitalo and published by Tordotcom. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sisters of the Crescent Empress is the second book in Leena Likitalo's Waning Moon Duology, a fabulous historical fantasy based on the lives of the Romanov sisters. We all think we know how the story ends... With the Crescent Empress dead, a civil war has torn the empire asunder. No one seems able to stop the ruthless Gagargi Prataslav. The five Daughters of the Moon are where he wants them to be, held captive in an isolated house in the far north. Little Alina senses that the rooms that have fallen in disrepair have a sad tale to tell. Indeed, she soon meets two elderly ladies, the ghosts of the house's former inhabitants. Merile finds the ghosts suspiciously friendly and too interested in her sisters. She resolves to uncover their agenda with the help of her two dogs. Sibilia isn't terribly interested in her younger sisters' imaginary friends, for she has other concerns. If they don't leave the house by spring, she'll miss her debut. And while reading through the holy scriptures, she stumbles upon a mystery that reeks of power. Elise struggles to come to terms with her relationship with Captain Janlav. Her former lover now serves the gagargi, and it's his duty to keep the daughters confined in the house. But if the opportunity were to arise, she might be able sway him into helping them flee. Celestia is perfectly aware of the gagargi coming to claim her rather sooner than later. She's resolved to come up with a plan to keep her sisters safe at any cost. For she knows what tends to happen to the sisters of the Crescent Empress. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Alix and Nicky written by Virginia Rounding and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic story of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia—A penetrating and deeply personal study that gives profound psychological insight into their marriage and how it shaped the events that engulfed them. There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand, they are venerated as saints, innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins, and on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution and imperial collapse, blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them, there can be no doubt that Alix and Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement, Alix wrote in her fiancé's diary: "Ever true and ever loving, faithful, pure and strong as death"—words which met their fulfillment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg. Through the letters and diaries written by the couple and by those around them, Virginia Rounding presents an intimate, penetrating, and fresh portrayal of these two complex figures and of their passion—their love and their suffering. She explores the nature and possible causes of the Empress's ill health, and examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and their ‘favourite,' Ania Vyrubova, protégée of the infamous Rasputin, extracting the meaning from words left unsaid, from hints and innuendoes.. The story of Alix and Nicky, of their four daughters known collectively as ‘OTMA' and of their hemophiliac little boy Alexei, is endlessly fascinating, and Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their human dimensions and expertly leading the reader into their vanished world.

Download or read book The Funeral Bride written by Kathleen McKenna Hewtson and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-12-02 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once upon a time there was a handsome sixteen-year-old prince who was the heir to one sixth of the world and to the largest private fortune on earth. Once there was a beautiful golden-haired princess who came from a small German duchy. They met and their love forever changed the course of history. This is their story, told in Alexandra's voice, the tale of Nicholas Romanov and Alexandra of Hesse, who became her Imperial Highness Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, the last Empress of Russia. Long before the tragedy there was the romance, the one-of-a-kind fairytale story of two beautiful young people who met, loved, and were given everything that money could buy, combined with nearly limitless earthly power. They must have lived happily ever after. Didn't they ...? Part II: 'The Empress of Tears, ' covering the years 1895-1904, will be published in the early summer of 2016.

Download or read book Alexandra written by Carolly Erickson and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Alexandra’s story is heartbreaking” and this New York Times–bestselling author “excels in the details” in this biography of the last Russian Empress (Chicago Tribune). Taking advantage of material unavailable until the fall of the Soviet Union, Erickson portrays Alexandra’s story as a closely observed, enthrallingly documented, progressive psychological retreat from reality. The lives of the Romanovs were full of color and drama, but the personal life of Alexandra has remained enigmatic. Under Erickson’s masterful scrutiny the full dimensions of the Empresses’ singular psychology are revealed: her childhood bereavement, her long struggle to attain her romantic goal of marriage to Nicholas, the anguish of her pathological shyness, her struggles with her in-laws, her false pregnancy, her increasing eccentricities and loss of self as she became more preoccupied with matters of faith, and her increasing dependence on a series of occult mentors, the most notorious of whom was Rasputin. With meticulous care, long practiced skill, and generous imagination, Erickson crafts a character who lives and breathes. “Entertaining. . . . One of the book’s strengths is its emphasis on the private life of the court.” —Publishers Weekly “Carrolly Erickson is one of the most accomplished and successful historical biographers writing in English.” —London Times Literary Supplement

Download or read book The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra written by Empress Alexandra (consort of Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia) and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recently declassified diary reveals the Empress's thoughts up until her execution

Download or read book The Vatican Princess written by C. W. Gortner and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trade paperback edition includes a reader's guide.

Download or read book The Kitchen Boy written by Robert Alexander and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-01-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soon to be a major motion picture starring Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters) Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov as seen through the eyes of their young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims to be the last living witness to the Romanovs’ brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family. Does he hold the key to the many questions surrounding the family’s murder? Historically vivid and compelling, The Kitchen Boy is also a touching portrait of a loving family that was in many ways similar, yet so different, from any other. "Ingenious...Keeps readers guessing through the final pages." —USA Today

Download or read book The Winter Palace written by Eva Stachniak and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Vavara, a young Polish orphan, arrives at the glittering, dangerous court of the Empress Elizabeth in St Petersburg, she is schooled in skills ranging from lock-picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent - and listen. Then Sophie, a vulnerable young princess, arrives from Prussia as a prospective bride for the Empress's heir. Set to spy on her, Vavara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit liaisons and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court. But Sophie's destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great. Are her ambitions more lofty and far-reaching than anyone suspected, and will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power?

Download or read book Empress Alexandra written by Maurice Paleologue and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-14 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading Maurice Paléologue's account of the extraordinary and tumultuous events taking place in Russia before his very eyes is like sitting down for a cozy chat with one of the most interesting and engaging people you have ever met.And in 1932, Maurice Paléologue published a page-turning and highly insightful portrait of the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna - whom he had met several times - based on all the stories and gossip he had picked up about her during his time as the energetic and wildly sociable French Ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg from 1914 to 1917.While his wonderfully entertaining and informative three-volume memoir of Tsar Nicholas II and the St. Petersburg social and political scene during the Great War was immediately translated into English by F.A. Holt, this equally entertaining portrait of Empress Alexandra, published ten years later, has only now been translated into English for the first time, by T.C. O'Halloran.

Download or read book The Tsarina s Daughter written by Ellen Alpsten and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-08 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When they took everything from her, they didn't count on her fighting to get it back. Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and Catherine I, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the world's loveliest Princess and the envy of the Russian empire. Insulated by luxury and as a woman free from the burden of statecraft, Elizabeth is seemingly born to pursue her passions. However, when her mother dies; Russia is torn, masks fall, and friends become foes. Elizabeth's idyllic world is upended. By her twenties she is penniless and powerless, living under constant threat. As times change like quicksand, Elizabeth must decide whether she is willing to take up her role as Russia's ruler, and what she's willing to do for her country.

Download or read book The Emperors and Empresses of Russia written by Donald J. Raleigh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since glasnost began, Russia's most eminent historians have taken advantage of new archival access and the end of censorship and conformity to reassess and reinterpret their history. Through this process they are linking up with Russia's great historiographic tradition while producing work that is fresh and modern. In "The Emperors and Empresses of Russia", renowned Russian historians tell the story of the Romanovs as complex individual personalities and as key institutional actors in Russian history, from the empire builder Peter I to the last tsar, Nicholas II. These portraits are contributions to the writing of history, partaking neither of wooden ideologisation nor of naive romanticisation.