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 The historical references abound, but the bits in between, as others have commented, feel a bit odd.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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )