As troubling rumors about her parents trickle in from the front, Olga dares to hope that a budding romance might survive whatever the future may hold. Olga and her sisters trade their gowns for nursing habits, assisting in surgeries and tending to the wounded bodies and minds of Russia’s military officers. But even as unrest simmers in the capital, Olga is content to live within the confines of the sheltered life her parents have built for her and her three sisters: hiding from the world on account of their mother’s ill health, their brother Alexei’s secret affliction, and rising controversy over Father Grigori Rasputin, the priest on whom the tsarina has come to rely. Olga’s only escape from the seclusion of Alexander Palace comes from the grand tea parties her aunt hosts amid the shadow court of Saint Petersburg-a world of opulent ballrooms, scandalous flirtation, and whispered conversation.īut as war approaches, the palaces of Russia are transformed. Grand Duchess Olga Romanov comes of age amid a shifting tide for the great dynasties of Europe.

This sweeping novel takes readers behind palace walls to see the end of Imperial Russia through the eyes of Olga Nikolaevna Romanov, the first daughter of the last tsar

an intimate and unforgettable tale that transports the reader to the heart of Imperial Russia.” -Chanel Cleeton, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba Complete with an author’s note and a bibliography that would charm any librarian, this historical fiction depicts the final years of the Romanovs in a way that feels both inspired and truthful.“P owerful and haunting. The Last Grand Duchess depicts a real family, with all their eccentricities and dynamics, while weaving in key details of the real Romanovs, their friends, and their families.

This meeting and the events that transpire after it demonstrate how the tsar and tsarina’s desperation, secrecy, and unwillingness to see the changing world surrounding them were key elements in their family’s ultimate demise.

The story launches with the family desperate to save toddler Alexie’s life when they meet priest Gregori Rasputin, who mystically pulls the boy back from the brink. Olga and her sisters lead a cloistered life in an effort to conceal the family’s greatest secret: the hemophilia of youngest child and heir, Alexie. Olga Nikolaevna, oldest child of Tsar Nikolas Romanov, has seen her world change, from a childhood of palaces and horse-drawn carriages to a young adulthood ravaged by war and her father’s fall from power.

Bryn turnbull the last grand duchess