Starving men and women stalk the streets of St. Petersburg. Revolution is brewing. Yet in the Imperial court of Nicholas II and the lavish palaces of the aristocracy, there is unimaginable luxury and extravagance.
Into this world of stifling splendour come two sisters. Princesses Anastasia and Militza from Montenegro are famed for their wild beauty and mystical powers. They befriend the isolated Tsarina Alexandra and use their psychic gifts to help in her increasingly desperate quest to produce a male heir. In one doomed last throw of the dice, the princesses introduce Rasputin to the Russian court. Forgotten by history, these extraordinary sisters played a frustrating role in the fate of the Romanov family - a true story of love, lust, power and betrayal.
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They hammered on the entrance to the palace, pounding with their fists. PROLOGUE, 10 FEBRUARY 1911, ZNAMENKA, PETERHOF
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(@HoZ_Books, 25 October 2017, 480 pages, ebook, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #PrimeReading)
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I have very limited knowledge of Russian history. My knowledge of Rasputin comes from a Boney M song. I know about Anastacia from a cartoon. I went into this book with zero expectations. I was looking forward to reading about a culture and period of history that was mostly unknown to me. I was dazzled by this book. I'm not sure how much is based on facts and how much is fabricated by the author's imagination. That hardly matters, the book is well-written, engaging and I was absorbed in it after I'd read a couple of times. I felt delighted every time I returned to Russia to spend time with the fantastically written characters. I loved all the references to Anastasia and Militza using their psychic powers to gain influence over the Tsarina by giving her the son she and Russia desperately need. I also loved the way Rasputin is characterised, truly mad with an odour of Charlie Manson about him. I cannot recommend this corker of a book enough.