Helen RappaportRezensionen

4.5 stars, this is fascinating and detailed and so sad. I would have liked some perspective from the peasants and lower class of the country regarding their feelings towards the Romanovs, as they are painted quite innocent and gentle here. I don't doubt that they were, and their time helping in the hospital is admirable, but I wonder how much privilege they realized they had.
Anastasia was a favorite movie when I was little, so this is even more sad knowing it is all fiction.½

Read by Xe Sands
"Princess Diana's of their time"
a story of the Romanovs girls and their family.

Em 17 de julho de 1918, quatro jovens mulheres desceram 32 degraus até o porão de uma casa em Ecaterimburgo, na Rússia. A mais velha tinha 22 anos e a mais nova, apenas dezessete. Junto com os pais e o irmão de treze anos, foram cruelmente assassinadas. Seus crimes: serem filhas do último tsar da Rússia. Muita coisa foi escrita sobre Nicolau II, sua mulher Alexandra e o trágico destino da família imperial, como também sobre a Revolução Russa de 1917, mas pouco se disse sobre o drama das princesas Romanov, que sempre foram vistas como personagens secundárias dessa trama. Em As irmãs Romanov, no entanto, a aclamada biógrafa Helen Rappaport traz a história delas para o centro da narrativa e oferece aos leitores o mais completo relato da vida das grã-duquesas Olga, Tatiana, Maria e Anastácia. Tendo por base as cartas e os diários das jovens e em fontes primárias nunca antes examinadas, Rappaport desenha um quadro vívido das irmãs nos últimos dias da dinastia Romanov. Seguimos as grã-duquesas desde o nascimento, passando pela infância superprotegida, até os anos de juventude ― as primeiras paixões, os sonhos, a dificuldade de lidar com um irmão hemofílico e uma mãe cronicamente inválida ― e, por fim, o trauma da Revolução e suas terríveis consequências. Com um texto instigante, baseado em uma pesquisa meticulosa, As irmãs Romanov dá voz a essas quatro jovens e é capaz de comover leitores um século depois de suas mortes trágicas e prematuras.

I was a bit disappointed. The book describes at length the events and the perspective of the Queen and the Royal Family but does not put in perspective of the evolution of Royal versus parliamentary power in Britain . I think that the fact that Victoria more or less stood back from active involvement on government for 15 years and more allowed the British Constitution to develop towards the constitutional monarchy of today.
Early in the book there is discussion of Albert intervening in foreign policy decisions to avoid a war with USA over trade blockades during the civil war. By the end of Victoria's reign it would have been inconceivable that the monarch would have this role. This was not discussed in book.½

at times, the writing flowered into something cinematic...not on the tragic _Zhivago_ scale, but the quotidian, devastating intimacy of a lost Sofia Coppola mash-up: the homely insularity of _The Virgin Suicides_ in a_Marie Antoinette_ setting. I wished, throughout, that SCoppola would option this book; it might seem a retread, but--oh my stars--how I would love to see that movie.

(otherwise, I was, of course, dismayed by own interest, however pedestrian, in a royal family. in exile, evidently, Nicky read aloud _The Scarlet Pimpernel_, and really, if I have to choose, I'm def Team Death To The Aristos/Long Live The Republic...and then I remember that the brutality of the Reds ruined Marxism for everybody. the idea that we have to choose murder along with humane government is ridiculous/why we can't anything nice.)

I found the first half of the book really interesting and the second half overlong and a little repetitive, but worth the read 3.5 *

Loved the tv show but this book was kind of a letdown. I thought there would be more behind-the-scenes info but that was only found in the last few pages. The rest of the book was the actual events of Victoria’s life, leading up to the birth of her first child. I’ve read that before elsewhere.

Loved the tv show but this book was kind of a letdown. I thought there would be more behind-the-scenes info but that was only found in the last few pages. The rest of the book was the actual events of Victoria’s life, leading up to the birth of her first child. I’ve read that before elsewhere.

Once started - it was addictive. The historical references abound, but the bits in between, as others have commented, feel a bit odd. I like to think of it as a bit like literary fiction. Once you get used to it, its OK and helps the narrative to flow easily.

At the end of it, I had a fairly good overview of the many groups and layers of the diaspora over the 50 year period from 1900 onwards. Overall a great deal of adversity was endured, a lot of sadness and some inspiring examples of resilience. In the end the community just withered away. There was a beautiful anecdote in the last chapter of how an ordinary Russian taxi driver survived which showed the phlegmatic mindset, that maybe some of the nobility could have done with.

P.S. - I just love the cover.

This book presents the 1917 Russian Revolution, as reported by eye-witness accounts, assembled into a cogent narrative by Helen Rappaport. The author relies on letters, journals, and articles from diplomats, journalists, medical professionals, businessmen, spies, and others. The account ranges through topics such as politics, the ongoing war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, how order was restored (or not), the estimated numbers of casualties, and how these people dealt with the aftermath. There was a general lack of provisions for the populace – food, clothing, and shelter. The streets were a dangerous place to be.

It reports on the February Revolution in vivid terms depicting the violence and brutality. Mobs were rampant and revenge was taken on anyone even suspected to be supportive of the government, particularly the police. Once everything settled down, there was a brief period of optimism, which only lasted until October, when the Bolsheviks took over. The leader of the provisional government, Kerensky, could have potentially changed the course of history by arresting Lenin and Trotsky, but, of course, this did not occur. Rappaport’s commentary on this brief period is one of the highlights of the book.

The book is focused, intentionally, on what was occurring in Petrograd (St Petersburg). The available documentation is primarily from the perspective of Americans, French, Dutch, and British visitors. It would have been interesting to obtain more comprehensive view by including Russian sources. It sometimes feels like a scattered approach, providing lots of recollections from many individuals, but provides a distinct perspective on this period of Russian history.

Before the First World War, Paris was a playground for the rich elite nobility of Russia. Free-spending and wild they enjoyed everything that the city could offer. However after the Revolution these same people returned to Paris in penury, exiled from their homeland and struggling to survive. In this book Rappaport looks at the lives of many of these, several from the royal family, and shows how their lives changed.
It's a really interesting book which shows both sides of the life of privileged individuals brought low and their ingenuity in the need to survive.

Helen Rappaport has written extensively on the subject of the Romanov family at the end of the dynasty. In a way "After the Romanovs" is a fitting postscript to her previous work on the fall of the Romanovs and the Communist dictatorship that ultimately succeeded and murdered them.

This book chronicles the fate of the Russian exiles including the surviving members of the Romanov family who escaped from Russia in the aftermath of the defeat of the White armies by the Reds in the civil war that broke out following the revolution of 1917 and the end of World War I. Indeed, enough members of the dynastic family made their way to Paris that Rappaport includes a six page listing of the characters who are referenced most frequently in the text. Twenty-one of these characters have a "first name" of Prince, Princess, Grand Duke, or Grand Duchess. The list also includes numerous intellectuals, artistic types and a few Tsarist and/or White Russian generals.

The total number of Russian emigres and their descendants eventually numbered in the hundreds of thousands and a Little Russian community came into existence with the hub of these exiles centered around the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral built in Paris. In addition to the Orthodox church there were numerous Russian language newspapers and magazines and various social services efforts designed to assist emigres with finding a place to live, a meal to eat and leads on landing a job.

Almost all of the emigres landed in various European ports of call with no money, no contacts and no prospects. Many of the ordinary Russians found employment in the French auto industry with Renault, Citroen, Peugeot and Delage working on the assembly lines for $2.00 a day. Many of the auto plant workers aspired to become licensed taxi drivers which at least allowed them to be their own boss.

Rappaport focuses most of her biographical detail on the artists, intellectuals and members of the imperial family. They certainly were not of one mind when it came to politics, but the one thing they shared in common was the profound sense of loss and alienation from their native land. Many expected that their exile would be short lived, that the Bolshevik regime would eventually collapse and be overthrown by the Russian people. As the years dragged on their hopes faded and they despaired of ever returning to the land that bore them and inspired them. Novelists and poets became blocked by the loss of contact with the Russian people and land. Combined with the lack of demand for their work many sank deeper and deeper into poverty and some resorted to suicide.

Those members of the royal family who were able to escape Russia with some of their valuables in their possession or who had houses, investments, or jewels or works of art stashed abroad were able to live a decent existence for a while. Eventually, the houses needed to be sold to pay off debts and the jewels were sold off piece by piece to keep body and soul together.

Those who escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs ended up in the same state as the commoners who accompanied them into exile. Many of the women of the nobility supported themselves and their families by doing needlework either independently or as employees of the various French fashion houses. Many of the male nobility went to work as waiters or taxi drivers. A few sought and succeeded in trading on their titles in pursuit of wealthy foreign heiresses.

When not preoccupied with making a living many of the former nobility and officers of the White armies involved themselves in fruitless disputes over who should be recognized as the legitimate heir to Nicholas II, or disputes over the claims of Anna Anderson to be, in fact, Anastasia, one of the daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, or whether or not to take active measures such as sabotage against the Soviet regime. In the end it all came to nothing and as the years wore on the generation of exiles gave way to their children who were content to be French and had little interest in the hopes, fears and intrigues of their parents.

There are too many stories related by Rappaport to include in this review so you will need to read the book to find out who were the major players in the Russian diaspora and how they fared. If you are interested in Russian history and the fate of those who fought the Bolsheviks or were targets for assassination by the Soviet regime, your interest will be rewarded by Helen Rappaport's work.

I have long been fascinated with the events that led up to the tragic murder of these young girls. This is a different view than most, since it focuses on the Grand Duchesses much more intensely than most histories of this time do. You cannot be a human being and not wonder at the state of mind of this family as it waited and hoped only to face such an ignoble end in a filthy basement room.

For those who were politically involved in the revolution, this might have seemed like the only solution...make it impossible for anyone of Romanov blood to ever claim the throne again...but from a human standpoint it reminds me of tales of the Holocaust in which you wonder how anyone could have so little humanity about them. Evidence is that these girls and even their father would have been no threat to the Bolsheviks. Not once after his abdication did Nicholas II attempt to rally anyone to fight against the surrender of the government of his behalf.

It is sad to read about the difficult lives these girls lived (often despite their privileged position in society), their quite, calm, accepting natures, and their simple naive personalities. It must have all seemed a bit surreal to them as it unraveled. I wonder if anyone I know could have handled that situation with the kind of courage and aplomb with which they did. I know I could not have.

To say you "enjoyed" such a morose read sounds almost perverse, but I am a lover of history and willing to look the evil side of it in the face when necessary. I think we can see this from such a different view point than those who were there at the time. Like so many bloody revolutions, this one brought the reign of Stalin and something far more evil than the Tsar the country had overthrown. You cannot help thinking of all the places along the road when Nicholas II might have bent and changed their fate, or when he might have been more astute and saved their lives. But, such is the sadness of history...it can never be changed.

The story of the Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals who sought freedom and refuge in the City of Light.

This history explores what happened to the Russian elites who went into exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution in 1917. The connections between Russia and Paris prior to the revolution are discussed, although most of the Russian arrivals came after 1917, when life was increasing difficult for former nobles and professionals. How these people started to form a community, venture into new careers, and thought about the country they left behind form the core of this book and it makes for a fascinating history.

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque through Revolution and War by Helen Rappaport reads like a work of fiction, yet it is a true account of what happened before, during and after the Russian Revolution. The Romanov dynasty had fallen and were exiled. Russian aristocrats had always enjoyed spending time in Paris and Paris was where many of them went when they fled their homeland, some of them without means of support. Their lives were never the same again. The contrast between the luxury they enjoyed in Paris previously and the impoverished existence they now endured is striking. Life in exile was difficult and many worked at menial labour to keep the wolf from the door. The author recounts a terrible time for the Romanovs and how they overcame the loss of their homeland and made a life in a foreign land. When you read the acknowledgements, it will become apparent how difficult research can be during a pandemic and this is a credit to Helen Rappaport’s dedication in writing this book. Highly recommended. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A well researched and incredibly in-depth novel, After the Romanovs takes a comprehensive look at life for many refugees after the Romanov family was assassinated, and many defected to Paris. Helen Rappaport is a leading expert of the Romanovs and Russian history in general, and it is paramount in her writing.

Being a novice of Russian history myself I found myself lost more than one time, especially the moments when it read more like a textbook, and I found myself struggling to concentrate. I never really understood the reasons behind the revolution, but now I have more of an understanding as to why there was such an uprising. Reading the accounts of the Romanovs murders was gut wrenching and truly unfathomable. Though I now understand the motivations behind the extermination of the family, it doesn’t negate the fact that these were human beings, the loss of life is always sad.

Definitely doesn’t have the same flow as some of the other nonfictions that I’ve read recently, but the information it does contain is eye-opening. I loved the fluid segues between different persons of interest and periods of time, and must give credit to all of those that fled from Russia and had a true fall from grace. To go from such incredible wealth to working as a taxi driver in a foreign land had to be earth-shattering.

I left this book feeling depressed, especially with the current events going on with Russia and Ukraine. There has always been such turmoil in that region and it just breaks my heart. My prayers go out to all that are affected by this current conflict, and hope that it will have a peaceful ending soon.

Watching what is currently happening, as well as reading After the Romanovs, I am now curious to learn more about this turbulent country and stormy past. It is truly a fascinating topic and I thank Ms. Rappaport for her comprehensive work.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War written by Helen Rappaport is Historical Non Fiction.
Helen Rappaport has written a history of Russian Aristocrats and others in Paris before and after the socialist takeover and how they lived and survived even in poverty and exile. This book is an interesting history of wealthy and poor Russians' enchanting love affair with Paris, France, and all things French.
The author supplies a list of characters that play important roles in her book and a bibliography for more in depth study. Excellent reference book of European Historical Non Fiction.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars

After the Romanovs provides a wealth of information and anecdotes about the Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals who escaped to Paris, fleeing persecution in their homeland before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. These Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals had long spent time in Paris, enjoying the culture, fine wine and food, and fashion. They spent lavishly and were popular members of society. But when the Russian Revolution started and these same “beautiful people” lost their titles, positions, homes and wealth, life in Paris became much different – and very difficult – for them. Probably the most interesting thing among all these facts and points of history is how totally unprepared these folks were for any life other than the rich, pampered, entitled one they had always known. While many found new careers and new ways to make money, as cabdrivers or seamstresses for example, to many more It was inconceivable that things wouldn’t return to normal sooner or later, so they went into kind of a holding pattern, waiting for the good old days to come back when their names, titles, and connections would once again get them the special treatment they felt entitled to. They had nothing in common with the thousands of others who were displaced but were not aristocrats, artists or intellectuals; they had nothing in common with each other except being members of the elite. They found it hard, nearly impossible, to unite against the new regime or to find a common road forward. All their rivalries and jealousies of the past continued.

After the Romanovs is a fascinating book to read, well researched and impeccably and thoroughly referenced and noted, which helps to keep track of the names and relationships and history. There are many, many quotes, revealing in their own, not always flattering words, how they felt and how they coped. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of After the Romanovs via NetGalley for my honest review. I enjoyed it and recommend it without hesitation. All opinions are my own.

Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque through revolution and war

Taken from drawings, diaries and with help of researchers in the UK and France the author delivers a portrait of Russian aristocrats, artists and intellectuals who sought freedom and refuge in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This is not an easy read. The author details the scandalous affairs, sumptuous parties, the extravagant shopping trips and gifts given to high class prostitutes. She also describes how Russian artists entranced their Parisian audiences and overwhelmed cafes causing the local authorities to be concern that revolution might come to France. After Stalin came to power in 1917, thousands of people were killed by the Bolshevists or sought refuge in other countries. Paris was for the aristocrats the city of dreams. Without money and no passports they needed to work, Russian noblewomen found work in the haute couture houses while Russian men found jobs as taxi drivers or worked in the auto industries. Although some ended in Berlin it is estimated that over 50,000 people made Pairs their home.

This book was hard to get into I had to drop it many times and recoup in order to keep going. They author throws names of people I barely knew about and a period long forgotten. But interesting was how the exiled managed to earn their living and come to terms with their reduced circumstances. The book focuses on several individuals and their story are sad. Not easy to be chased from your country and see your life the ways you always lived it ending.

Although I didn’t know much about the subject matter apart from the obvious Romanovs, Rasputin, Stalin and a few others like Coco Chanel now I can say I have a little bit more knowledge. If I can only remember all those Russian names...

“After the Romanovs” is meticulously researched and written with tremendous details. It places emphasis on the period following the Russian revolution and the White Russians who fled to Paris.
On a side not: Russian aristocrats lived a life of opulence built on oppression of many...not surprising the uprising....

Thank you, St-Martin Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair review.

In high school a fellow chorus member told me her heritage was White Russian. Here I am, some fifty-plus years later, finally understanding her family history in the pages of After the Romanovs. I had garnered some idea from books and movies, but had no real appreciation of the traumatic emigration of thousands of Russians, the poverty of their exile, and their heartbreaking longing for their lost homeland and life.

Helen Rappaport begins the story with the Russian obsession with all things French, dating to Peter the Great’s 1717 visit to Paris. She recreates Belle Époque Paris and describes the wealthy Russian nobility who enjoyed Parisian society, both high society and it’s darker underworld. By 1905, when Cossack troops slaughtered protesters calling for better wages and living conditions, it became obvious that, as Grand Duke Paul con Hohenfelsen expressed, “within and without, everything’s crumbling.”

Each chapter concentrates on a specific experience of Russians in Paris, following the lives of specific aristocrats and artists. There is Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes that propelled to fame previously unknown Russian composers like Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Mussorgsky, and dancers like Anna Pavlona and Nijinsky, a chapter I especially enjoyed.

We read about Lenin’s time in Paris, the writers and poets and painters. After the abdication of Nicholas II, the Russian aristocracy saw everything they had disappear, their rank and power, their land and possessions, their very lives at risk. For the first time in generations, they had to work, and at the lowest occupations possible. The alternative was to leave their homeland, making their way to the Crimea or Singapore, often with the clothes on their back and some jewelry they hoped would pay their keep for decades. Perhaps 146,000 left in 1920.

Rappaport paints a vivid picture of the gruesome journey on overcrowded ships, and the dire poverty that awaited them in exile.

Before us darkness and terror. Behind us–horror and hopelessness.Vera Bunin quoted in After the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport

At first, the French government accepted the emigres to replace the population lost during WWI, and perhaps 120,000 settled there. “Paris is full of Russians,” Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1922. The flood of jewelry on the market drove their value down, and the emigres had few skills to fall back on. The men aspired to become taxi drivers. The women took up needlework that was featured in Coco Chanel’s collections, capitalizing on the fad for Russian inspired fashion, working 12 hour days for a barely enough money to feed themselves.

The emigres longed for their homeland and old life, unable to accept their new reality as permanent. The ‘rightful tsar’ organized and plotted a comeback with expectation that Russians would rebel against the Soviet government. When a Russian emigrant assassinated the French president, there was a backlash against the Russians.

Most of the exiled poets, writers, and artists failed to thrive. Those who left for America faired better, and many Jews did leave with the rise of Hitler. It is heartbreaking to read of people’s lonely, cruel aging, the suicides, all hope gone. The poignant story of Mother Maria, who became a nun who organized soup kitchens and housing for the impoverished, ends with her death in Ravensbruck.

I don’t often feel compassion for the rich and powerful, and the White Russians were certainly isolated from the reality of ‘real life’. But what a marvelous study of a whole class and generation faced with the loss of everything they knew.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Helen Rappaport has written several books about the Romanovs, and the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. They are well researched and have been well received. After the Romanovs, her latest, is due March 8th from St Martin's Press. The focus here is on the Russian émigré community in Paris. Many Russians, including members of the royal Romanov clan, fled Russia because of the Revolution. Many of them went to Paris.

Rappaport opens her book by exploring the Russian presence in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Paris had been a “home away from home” for the Russian aristocracy since at least the reign of Peter the Great. By the 1900s it was referred to as the capital of Russia outside of Russia. The countries were also politically aligned (much to the annoyance of Kaiser Wilhelm).

The prewar years were a golden age for Franco-Russian relations and for Russians in France. The Tsar and his family visited to great acclaim in 1896, and several Russian Grand Dukes were frequent visitors and part-time residents. Many of the Russian Dukes and Duchesses maintained second homes in Paris, where they loved to shop and entertain lavishly.

Through the 1900s the French were becoming increasingly interested in Russian arts and literature. The Russian entrepreneur Sergey Diaghilev had great success raising money from the Paris based Russian aristocracy to support bringing Russian art and artists to French audiences. He produced magazines, art exhibits, opera and dance performances (featuring Nijinsky, Pavlova, Stravinsky and others).

The Russians in France lost all this prewar sophistication and extravagance after the 1917 Revolution. With the success of the Bolsheviks and their Red Army, many royal family members fled Russia with little more than the clothes on their backs. They were followed by other refugees and members of the losing White Army. The highest numbers ended up in Paris and Berlin. In Paris the ultimate number is estimated to be upwards of 50,000 people.

With no funds and no passports, the post-revolutionary Russians in Paris struggled. Many held out hope for the fall of the Soviet government well into the 1930s. They tended to focus within their own community. Many were not inclined to assimilate into French society.

Poverty beset many of them. Those who had been Dukes and Princes found themselves on the assembly line in the Renault factory, or driving cabs. Their wives earned meager wages as seamstresses.

Over time, Parisians became less sensitive to the Russian émigré’s plight, and as the Depression set in, began to see them as job poachers.

The book spends most of its time highlighting the postwar years. Readers steeped in the history of the Romanovs and of Russia may find some names familiar, but I suspect many other names will not be. For lovers of history who are not Russophiles, like myself, many of the tales told in the book will involve characters you’ve not heard of before, aside from perhaps Nabokov and Chagall. Some of the tales are interesting. Most, sadly, are depressing.

The sheer volume of names cited and stories told in this well researched book proved a bit of a challenge to me. It was not a "straight-through" reading experience. I found it better to dip into a chapter or two and then walk away for a bit and absorb what I’d read. But I kept coming back and was rewarded with a much better understanding of the fate of the losing side of the Russian Revolution.

If you have read and enjoyed any of Rappaport’s other Russia centered books, you’ll no doubt find this one just as enlightening. For me, this was a Three and a Half Star ⭐⭐⭐🌠 trip into a world I knew next to nothing about beforehand.

NOTE: I received an advanced copy from Netgalley and St Martin's Press. I am voluntarily providing this review.

historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, nonfiction*****

Russians in Paris before the Bolsheviks is a detailed account of the marvelous (from Nijinsky! the ballet! the music! to Singer of sewing machines), the overindulgent (excessive spending in food/jewelry/debauchery by the Russian aristocrats and the benefits to Paris.
Then the Great War followed by Revolution and elimination of the tsar and immediate family forcing the rest into exile.
Once again, the aristocracy returned to Paris, this time as poor exiles. Some were able to smuggle valuables with them to England, Finland, Japan, and the US, but they were a minority and the overarching hope of all was the great homesickness for Mother Russia.
The info is comprehensive, but the writing is more like a Publish or Perish.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

3.25 stars

This book really does focus on the last two weeks of the lives of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife and children (4 daughters and 1 son) as they were imprisoned and later murdered. It does back up in time, though, to detail how they got where they were.

There was a lot more politics in the book than I’d expected, so that was not as interesting to me as the parts that did focus on the family itself. I will say, though, that this seemed really well researched, with a lot of primary sources being used, most notably (I think) writings by the last head guard of the Romanovs in Ekaterinburg (Yakov Yurovsky), who was also one of the main murderers. This book may have included the most detailed description of the murders themselves, likely due to the writings of Yurovsky.

I struggled with this book. I am a big fan of Victorian History, but this on was more like reading a thesis than a book. The best part of the book for me was the summary at the very end that talked about what Albert really died from.