The Romanov Sisters

The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

By: Helen Rappaport

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

A New York Times Bestseller for 12 weeks!
"Helen Rappaport paints a compelling portrait of the doomed grand duchesses." —People magazine

"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)

They were the Princess Dianas of their day—perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. 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.

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. 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.

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. Helen Rappaport aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados.

©2014 Helen Rappaport (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Rappaport paints a compelling portrait of Tatiana, Olga, Maria and Anastasia” —People

“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. Readers will be swept up in the author's leisurely yet informative narrative as she sheds new light on the lives of the four daughters.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In their time, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia were depicted in international accounts as a cute, indistinguishable quartet. But Rappaport brings out each one's character and does it neatly, with a fine touch. . . . 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

fascinating

well read. poignant .could not put this down.reread some parts and cried. history is cruel.

AMAZING!

I really enjoyed this book! I will defiantly try to find more by this author and narrator regarding this subject.
I think the narration is what really made the book come to life. As interesting as the story is, it is filled with heartache and the narrator does a wonderful job at expressing that.

Lovely Tale of History

What did you love best about The Romanov Sisters?

I loved how I was able to get an insider view on daily life and events of the family. I felt like I was right there. Also, I enjoyed that details such as the crushes the sisters had on their guy friends and possible suitors was added and not made to seem petty or childish. It really made it that much more personable to the listener because afterall they were children and were still able to retain many of the aspects of childhood.

What other book might you compare The Romanov Sisters to and why?

I'm not sure as this is the first book I've read about the Romanov family.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I really felt sad for the family knowing what their future was and their diminishing hope at the end. I wish they had been able to escape and live out their lives elsewhere. They were just as human as any other family.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

Deeply personal and moving portrait

Although there is even more to know about the internal lives and thoughts of the Romanov sisters, whatever records and memories would tell us that inner reality did not survive the awful history of those times. This book dives as deeply as it is possible to go in the wake of their murders.

I was riveted by the haunting details of the sisters' practical upbringing inside a beautiful, gilded world. A world that vanished around them so abruptly, leaving them to survive as best they could in the wake of the mess their parents made of their own lives and influence in spite of their noble intentions. The book portrays parents Nicholas and Alexandra as loving, well-intentioned and good-hearted, but terribly equipped, emotionally and educationally, to cope with the changes that overwhelmed them. Their intransigent beliefs trapped their grown and almost-grown children, as well as themselves, in an impossible situation that was not of the children's making.

Clearly, at some point the daughters seem to have realized that they had no future to call their own. That they were living out the last days of their parents' lives and, thereby, their own lives as well. During their captivity their writings show that they seem to have given up the idea of their prospects as some of the most marriageable royalty in Europe to the knowledge that their lives would be short, and with nothing ever to truly call their own. The stoicism and courage of these four young and spirited women, to endure these days with grace and dignity, is a monument to the resiliency of the human spirit.

One of the most shocking revelations to me personally was the number of opportunities to escape that were discarded by Nicholas and Alexandra, even for just their children if not for themselves. Their inflexible commitment to remaining Russian royalty doomed the entire family (a principal they clung to in spite of Nicholas' abdication).

The book portrays a good and decent family that lived out high ideals inside a decadent, crumbling world of titles and privilege. But their ideals alone were not enough to bring them through the collapse of the only world order they knew or would accept.

I gave the "Story" rating a 4 rather than a 5 for two reasons:

The first is that the story assumes that the reader knows the historical events and contexts. The book only occasionally offers the briefest notes as to what was going on outside the palace walls. Even the death of Rasputin and its immediate aftermath are only lightly sketched. The reasons the royal family were 'arrested' (taken hostage) would not be understood if this book were the only source of information. Possibly this was because explaining such a complex situation might have threatened to double the length of the book, not to mention derail and change the royalist character of the story.

The second reason was the author's subtle assumptions the royals were inherently in the right, and dissenters in the wrong. It might be hard to present this story without a basically royalist viewpoint, but there were a number of spots that were rather dismissive and even disparaging of egalitarian sentiments.

I didn't score either way on a significant missing detail, and that is the insistence of many historians that the daughters may have, even probably had unpleasant sexual encounters with their soldier guards during the family's captivity. The book does not mention the possibility. It does portray their lives in captivity as being more like house arrest, with the family living all together, separately from their captors. The author does say that the guards were an intrusive presence, but mostly as a crude and noisy background to their family life.

A more well-rounded presentation of these background events as they unfolded might have cast more light on the awkward position of the royal family. But at the same time there is almost no information available telling us what the daughters specifically knew and thought of the revolution and the social unrest that sealed their doom. Their writings were careful as they understood that unfriendly censors were reading. One thing clear from the book is that, before the family's arrest at least, the daughters led a very sheltered life, and even as the two oldest moved into adulthood, older adults controlled what information they received about the outside world.

We are left to wonder how much at least the oldest two girls, Olga 22 and Tatiana 21, did know about the external events of the revolution. They certainly seemed to understand the precarious position of their own family, though. Maria was 19 and Anastasia 17, so they were not children at the time of the family's imprisonment and execution.

Haunting book. I will never forget this immersion into the lives of these four girls, born to a family who were caught in the maw of a bloody revolution.

Great Read

provided so much history about these four girls, their family, and the tragic end of their young lives.

Captivating but abrupt ending

Except for the abrupt ending a very well written account of the Romanova sisters life's.
Everything is very detailed until the very end - I guess the author wanted to spare the reader unfortunately.
The speaker was fantastic I really enjoyed Xe Sands performance.

Finally...no longer OTMA

This book really gives each one of the girls their own distinct personalities, which hasn't bee done before. The story will always be sad but at least we can see the girls now as individuals.

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport

I liked the book very much. The narrator was a problem, however. She read much too fast and in a monotone voice. Pronouncing "au GUST" as "aug ust" like the month and referring to the duke of Australia instead of Austria was odd. The story was very sad, but quite interesting. Another narrator would have done it justice.

great detail, but narration is a bit flat

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

sometimes. It had a lot of detail that didn't add to the story, but was easy to move faster through if desired. It is rich with everyday details that make this family human and relatable to, with respect to their situation. Narration is one tone that felt a bit flat, and tuning out had to be watched as a result.

The heart in Russia's history

A very emotional presentation of the thoughts of the Romanovs from the perspectives of their women. It is interesting to know them and the cruelty of history that befell them. This audio book is quite soothing to listen and makes the characters come alive in my mind.