“In this new volume Helen Rappaport mines a trove of fresh material as she uncovers the lost lives of the daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra.” - Buffalo News “Rappaport is good at showing life within the castle gates… makes a genuinely new, interesting contribution to the Romanov story, which is likely to appeal to both general and specialist readers.” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette While we know that the family's fate will be tragic, the girls don't, and Rappaport, with a light hand and admiring eyes, allows the four Grand Duchesses to grow on us as they grow up.” - Christian Science Monitor But Rappaport brings out each one's character and does it neatly, with a fine touch. “In their time, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia were depicted in international accounts as a cute, indistinguishable quartet. “A gossipy, revealing story of the doomed Russian family's fairy tale life told by an expert in the field.” - Kirkus Reviews “Rappaport paints a compelling portrait of Tatiana, Olga, Maria and Anastasia” - People It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados. Helen Rappaport aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. With this treasure trove of diaries and letters from the grand duchesses to their friends and family, we learn that they were intelligent, sensitive and perceptive witnesses to the dark turmoil within their immediate family and the ominous approach of the Russian Revolution, the nightmare that would sweep their world away, and them along with it.
Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses-Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov-were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle. They were the Princess Dianas of their day-perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century.
"The public spoke of the sisters in a gentile, superficial manner, but Rappaport captures sections of letters and diary entries to showcase the sisters' thoughtfulness and intelligence." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Helen Rappaport paints a compelling portrait of the doomed grand duchesses." - People magazine
A New York Times Bestseller for 12 weeks!
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