Book Description
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.
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.
Review
I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher. Here is my honest review.
Well I quite enjoyed this book. After reading some of the scathing reviews, I'll attempt to formulate a coherent reason as to why.
Many of those reviews point out that the history is faulty and there seems to be a lack of research.
I can't speak to the historical accuracy but I certainly had the impression while reading that the author had done due diligence in research. At the same time, I read it as fiction. So much of what happens in the book takes place in private and while the author can make educated guesses to thoughts, motivations and conversations, accuracy may not be entirely possible. I have no idea what private papers are available which led me to read the book with a 'here's a good guess' point of view. Do I walk away with the impression that every moment is historical fact? No. But I do walk away with a sense that the author depicted the dynamics and personalities and events in a reasonably logical way.
One review I read mentioned an excessive talk about jewels as being a negative; there was a lot of talk about jewels throughout the book. I personally love to look at royal jewels and will admit to grabbing my phone to google jewels and palaces as they were mentioned. The point the reader made was that they were so wrapped up in fashion and jewels that they were oblivious to the plight of the peasants. My interpretation of her point was that all the talk in the book was frivolous and didn't speak to the sufferings at that point in time, almost as if that needed more focus in the book. My perspective is that this absolutely shows how out of touch the aristocracy in general and the imperial family specifically were. Even with some of the family's desire to improve life for the common people and their charity work, they still had an attitude of elevated status that should render them revered and untouchable. While Marie knows that her daughter-in-law will push the people away, she fails to realize how much their family will come to be despised. Even when she references that they have much to lose, I don't believe she ever imagined that they would lose the throne, their fortune and the love of the people.
It is no easy task to cover such a wide span of history marked with major turbulent events. And yet, Gortner did so.
Many of those reviews point out that the history is faulty and there seems to be a lack of research.
I can't speak to the historical accuracy but I certainly had the impression while reading that the author had done due diligence in research. At the same time, I read it as fiction. So much of what happens in the book takes place in private and while the author can make educated guesses to thoughts, motivations and conversations, accuracy may not be entirely possible. I have no idea what private papers are available which led me to read the book with a 'here's a good guess' point of view. Do I walk away with the impression that every moment is historical fact? No. But I do walk away with a sense that the author depicted the dynamics and personalities and events in a reasonably logical way.
One review I read mentioned an excessive talk about jewels as being a negative; there was a lot of talk about jewels throughout the book. I personally love to look at royal jewels and will admit to grabbing my phone to google jewels and palaces as they were mentioned. The point the reader made was that they were so wrapped up in fashion and jewels that they were oblivious to the plight of the peasants. My interpretation of her point was that all the talk in the book was frivolous and didn't speak to the sufferings at that point in time, almost as if that needed more focus in the book. My perspective is that this absolutely shows how out of touch the aristocracy in general and the imperial family specifically were. Even with some of the family's desire to improve life for the common people and their charity work, they still had an attitude of elevated status that should render them revered and untouchable. While Marie knows that her daughter-in-law will push the people away, she fails to realize how much their family will come to be despised. Even when she references that they have much to lose, I don't believe she ever imagined that they would lose the throne, their fortune and the love of the people.
It is no easy task to cover such a wide span of history marked with major turbulent events. And yet, Gortner did so.
I gave this book: ★★★★★
★ = I did not like it ★★ = It was okay ★★★ = I liked it
★★★★ = I really liked it ★★★★★ = I loved it
