Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250639 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 332 pages

Synopsis
Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine was born in 1872, a much-loved grand-daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria. Forty-six years later, as ex-Empress Alexandra of Russia, she died in a hail of bullets in a remote Siberian cellar, the hated 'German woman' of revolutionary propaganda, an unbending autocrat paradoxically believed to have taken an illiterate peasant as her lover. In this fictionalised autobiography, Alexandra tells her own story for the first time. It is the tale of a longing for meaning and acceptance that began in her lonely childhood and of her passionate love affair with Nicholas, the last Tsar of Russia.It is the story of how intensely she strove to understand the whole of Nicholas' world. Seen from Alexandra's perspective in a way that is often lost in conventional biographies, this a tale of colourful individuals: her children Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexei, her friends and enemies, the politicians who fought and gossiped, and of how she came to depend on the peasant Rasputin, told without a touch of the melodrama that disfigures so many accounts of his life.

It is the story of how she and Nicholas handled the drama of the Russian Revolution and the changed lives they lived in captivity. As close to history as historical fiction gets, this book also contains an extensive and fascinating cast of characters.

Customer Reviews

A little bit too much in line with "imperial myth" but it creates sympathy and understanding for the last Empress
The last Russian Empress is properly one of the most difficult royal persons to judge as her pubic and private person seem to be very much add odds with eachother. Depending from which perspective authors approach her, the judgement is different. The horrific end made it even more dificult to judge properly. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church and of course a pawn the the fight between Imperalists and Communists the real Alexandra disappears. She is either a saintly victim or the evil Empress who rocked the throne of Russia or the German Woman, the traitor of Russia. Even that is wrong as she was rather more English than German.

So I believe it is a splendid idea to approach the whole life of the last Empress from her very own perspective. A novel seems to be the right medium as the documents left by her do not fully allow an historical accurate description. So one needs a bit more freedom. Janet Aston is a scrupulous researcher and a good writer and that shows here. This book is fiction and to large degree it is not. There are no fictional characters or invented events in order to stress a point. This is quite nice.

Janet Ashton tries to evoke sympathy for and understanding of Alexandra through the feelings and experiences of her life. And she achieves this. I particuarly liked that her family upbrining, her realtionships with ALL her sibling and her father (not merely with her grandmother Queen Victoria or her mother Princess Alice or her "Russian" sister Ella) are given. It already explains a lot about her.

The political Alexandra, the Empress Alexandra is differently captured and not that convincing. Here a scenario of mounting of chaos and despair is created. Dreadful minister succeeds minister and no-one knows what best to do to keep the government on its feet. Well, and who bears responsibilty? Nicolas wanted to be autocrat, Alexandra wanted him to be an autocrat. Autocrat means to have ultimate power but as well ultimate responsibilty. And this is completely forgotten. Here I was disappointed. Writting during the days of her last imprisonment the Empress tells the story and does not reflect on her life. Of course one could argue that this is already telling. Alexandra is far too much a person a la "I know best" in order to question herself, even in prison when she must have known that all has gone terrribly wrong.Maybe this is the most damaging charcater flaw of Alexandra.

Janet Ashton comes too much from the romantic side of things. She keeps it too much within the myth of romantic memory of the Imperial times. However, times have moved on and too much is known to get away with such an approach. There are - and here I agree with the previous reviewer - some moving aspects of the story.

It is still a very quite readable book, but it is a bit of a missed opportunity.

THE GERMAN WOMAN BY JANET ASHTON
I write this review, rather poignantly, just a day before the 90th anniversary of the murder of the entire Romanov family in the basement of a house in Ekaterinburg, Siberia. This tragedy will be marked in Ekaterinburg, in Russia, and probably all over the world. Interest in this story is huge and there are myriad books out there to be bought. Like this book, many are fictionalised accounts. But this fictionalised account is a rare thing, very historically accurate.

"The German Woman" is the story of Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and wife of the last Tsar of Russia. She is in exile, writing of her thoughts and memories about her life, probably in her diary. The Tsarina certainly kept a diary though it was usually full of one-liners about the weather. But that is probably because she wrote a lot elsewhere to her many relatives and her husband, much of which has been published. Ashton has concentrated hard on these documents and I think her greatest achievement with her book is to have captured the genuine style and feel of Alexandra's writing. Her voice really rings true - even down to the use of nicknames and phrases, and the attitudes and opinions that she propounds.

Ashton has certainly done her historical research too. I have spent years reading around the subject of the Romanovs and would spot any kind of "Hollywood licence" used in this book to make it read more easily. There is none. The book tells Alexandra's life story from her early childhood with Queen Victoria, right through until the last days in Ekaterinburg. That's a large expanse of history and a good few facts to sort through. And no mistakes I could spot.

Ashton has used the tried and tested formula of flashback to tell the story. Though this could be seen as clichéd, she weaves past and present together very well. The first few chapters set both scenes. And then she just concentrates on telling Alexandra's tale chronologically. It reads well and easily. It is a page-turner, not a history book full of dry facts and dates. I read the book during several train journeys and found myself totally absorbed and in danger of missing my stops. There was a moving passage towards the end of the book that reduced me to tears - fortunately there was no one sitting next to me at that point.

I would recommend this book really to anyone - it's what you want it to be. A good read on a tedious journey, a lesson in history, a historical novel, even a romance as the story of Nicholas and Alexandra was, in real life, a romance. You won't be wasting your money if you buy.

One of the best books of the year
I loved this book, could not put it down. Janet Ashton captures Alexandra's life and voice to perfection that you can almost hear her speak. I have read many books on the Romanovs and even though it is historical fiction all her information is correct. Anyone who is interested in the last Imperial Family of Russia should buy this book. I was hooked from the start. If I could her 10 stars I would.