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| The Tsarina's Daughter | 
 enlarge | Author: Carolly Erickson
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.55
You Save: $10.40 (42%)
New (32) Used (9) from $12.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 12499
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312367384
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780312367381
ASIN: 0312367384
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a dramatic novel and powerful love story about the last Russian imperial family. It is 1989 and Daria Gradov is an elderly grandmother living in the rural West. What neighbors and even her children don’t know, however, is that she is not who she claims to be—the widow of a Russian immigrant of modest means. In actuality she began her life as the Grand Duchess Tatiana, known as Tania to her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. And so begins the latest entrancing historical entertainment by Carolly Erickson. At its center is young Tania, who lives a life of incomparable luxury in pre-Revolutionary Russia, from the magnificence of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to the family’s private enclave outside the capital. Tania is one of four daughters, and the birth of her younger brother Alexei is both a blessing and a curse. When he is diagnosed with hemophilia and the key to his survival lies in the mysterious power of the illiterate monk Rasputin, it is merely an omen of much worse things to come. Soon war breaks out and revolution sweeps the family from power and into claustrophobic imprisonment in Siberia. Into Tania’s world comes a young soldier whose life she helps to save and who becomes her partner in daring plans to rescue the imperial family from certain death.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 An interesting and fun little book October 13, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you are a purist when it comes to history then I think you should pass on The Tsarina's Daughter. However, if you like an interesting story of what might have been if all the stars were aligned, then this maybe the novel for you.
This is the story of Tatiana the second oldest daughter to Czar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra. The story focuses on Tatiana's life as she is growing up in the royal palace and also when the family was arrested. The little details about courtly life and the people that surrounded Tatiana are very interesting. Readers also experience Tatiana's life as a nurse during World War I. I will say I was a little disappointed that we did not get more interaction between Tatiana and her sisters. Alexandra is not painted in a sympathetic light and comes off as crazy in the novel. Nicholas, in my opinion, seems out of touch with his family and everything around him. Now I am not sure if this is true or not, but it did not distract me from the story. If someone is looking for a story about Tatiana's life after she escaped from Russia, this is not the story for them. That subject is barely touched upon.
I will confess that I was a little leery about this novel, after having read Erickson's last one about Josephine. But this plot seems stronger and the characters more interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I am thrilled that we have another Romanov book on the market. There are so few of them, and we need more.
For those looking for a fun read then this is for them. For those looking for historical accuracy then I would say pass.
 When will it end October 26, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
You would think that, with the recent discovery of Anastasia and Alexei's remains near the grave of the rest of the family, these speculative stories about the Romanov children would finally be put to rest. Not so in this narrative, which was probably (unfortunately) started before history and forensics told the truth. I can see how the author would want to still go ahead with publication. That said, he also completely scews the personalities (quite well-known at this point) of the Czar's family.
-Nicholas II was not detached from his family. In fact, numerous diaries from ministers and advisors point to frustration that he (unlike the workaholics of today) preferred time spent with his children to time spent in political mud.
-Alexandra was not a crazy, and Tatiana had an incredibly close relationship with her -- closer than many of her sisters.
-Tatiana's sisters (Olga, Marie and Anastasia) were an enormous part of her life. Most of their pictures, both formal and private, show the four of them together. I have no idea why the author chose to leave this crucial detail out.
Seriously, it is sad that when there is an economic crisis and a HUMANITARIAN crisis (food shortages, lack of sanitation, etc.) going on around the world, we are still choosing to focus on what couldabeen in a tiny corner of Russian history almost 100 years ago. Spiritual and compassionate as they were, I am sure the Romanovs (Nicholas and Alexandra's family specifically) would have preferred that we focus on the issues at hand rather than continue to disturb their peace with unfounded, boring speculations.
 Not what I expected October 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I thought this would be about how the Tsarinas daughter got away, how whe emigrated to Canada and how she made a new life. It's not. It's about growing up as the Tsar's daughter and the events that lead to the Revolution. It's an interesting story just now what I thought it would be. I should have had a genealogy chart to keep track of how all the rulers in Europe and Russia were related. It tells an interesting story just not the one I thought it would be.
Which factoids are true and which aren't? November 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I first found out about TSARINA'S DAUGHTER, I was faced with a quandary. First off, I knew that the last two Romanov bodies had been found and identified through DNA tests. On the other hand, this was historical fiction by Carolly Erickson, a historian whose books I'd read. Could she sneak in enough little known factoids to make this worth reading?
Well, we find out that Tatiana was forced to wear a back brace by Minnie, Nicholas's domineering mother. We also learn that Anastasia had a worm farm and that Olga was the smart one in the family, obnoxiously so. Erickson tells us Nicholas had a ballerina mistress and that he liked to drink with his buddies. We also learn that Adalbert, the Kaiser's son, asked for Tatiana's hand in marriage, but was turned down. Fiction begins to enter the picture when Erickson gives Tatiana a love life. She becomes enamored of a young doctor and then a wounded soldier. Then there's Freud. Did he really talk to Alexandra at Minnie's behest with the goal of placing her in a sanitarium?
Nicholas and Alexandra are both a little more unhinged than I had been led to believe. I've read all the Massie novels and a few others. Nicholas appears disinterested when he's at the front. Alexandra is a regular nut case. Rasputin suddenly loses his "powers," ostensibly because he became too fond of good food, women, clothes, and money.
Tatiana tells the story as a 93-year-old grandmother living in Canada, which limits much of what Erickson could do with this. We don't get a good look at the Rasputin assassination, nor do we meet Felix Yussoupov, his murderer. We don't meet Lenin, although the ineffectual Kerensky does show up at least twice to move the plot along.
Erickson has a tough time making the climactic scene where Tatiana is rescued work. The conscientious Tatiana just doesn't act like she has throughout the novel. She risks her life helping the poor, and instead of having her radical maid shot, she protects her and helps her have her baby. Would Tatiana leave her family in the lurch?
Good book October 9, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Though the book is pure fantasy, I enjoyed the author's look at "what might have been!"
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