The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra - Helen Rappaport

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

 

I'm not overly familiar with either the Romanov family or biographies in general. I had read some works of fiction about the last Tsar though, and was interested in reading this particular biography as the title suggested it would be focussed more on the people rather than the title.

 

So, I was naturally already familiar with their tragic end, but also learned a lot of other things. I found it very interesting, and as the book is almost 500 pages long, it never felt dull. The only problem I had (and that is completely personal), is the fact that, while reading about these girls (and the rest of the familiy) I couldn't stop thinking (in fact almost counting down) to July 1918. Probably because this is non-fiction, this made me feel sad in a way I normally never feel when reading a book (I'm usually the kind of person who thinks that murdering some characters at the end of the book is a good move plot-wise).

 

I can't tell you how much new insight this book gives into their lives, as it is the first biography about them I read, but it felt very well-researched and there were a lot of fragments of their letters as well. I really enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the last Russian Tsar.