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The Passion of Marie Romanov: A Tale of Anastasia's Sister Audio CD – Unabridged, November 7, 2017

by Laura Rose (Author), Lillian Webb (Reader), Travis Smith (Reader)

4.3 2,135 ratings

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July 17, 1918-from the writings of Marie Nicolaevna Romanovna, age 19. Midnight, in bed with her sister, Anastasia (Shvybz), in the Ipatiev Mansion in Ekaterinburg, during the last night of their lives."So much of my story unfolds by moonlight. This is a tale of midnight waking's and forced marches before dawn. Since this nightmare began, I do not dare undress, even to go to bed. I wear my dressing gown, my hair is prepared, and my shoes are set beside me. I have no idea when we will be summoned to rise. We have moved, as in the worst of dreams, slowly toward this place. There is no logic other than the sleepwalker's obedience-to follow instruction, which we cannot resist: an actual lunacy. Now, I have control only of this-my record of what happened to us, to me. I have committed a single sin, my one terrible transgression. I pray to be absolved. In this recording of memory lies all meaning to my life. Let my will prevail in this, my ultimate wish, to salvage something of value from this tragedy. The rest, as my mother says, is in God's hands. When I look back, as I must in the short time allotted to me now, I can see the exact moment when our lives changed: at last light, on the thirteenth of March, 1917."The Passion of Marie Romanov is based on original diaries and letters and told from the point of view of the third Romanov daughter, Marie, Anastasia's closest, older sister. In startling new historical detail, Marie's story is unique. Marie is the only one who crossed the frozen Siberian river with her parents and only Marie shared her full seventy-eight days and nights in "The House of Special Purpose."

Print length

1 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Made for Success, Inc. and Blackstone Audio
Publication date

November 7, 2017
Dimensions

5.8 x 1.1 x 5.6 inches
ISBN-10

1538448920
ISBN-13

978-1538448922
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Made for Success, Inc. and Blackstone Audio; Unabridged AUDIO edition (November 7, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1538448920
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1538448922
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 1.1 x 5.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,651,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66,715 in Books on CD
- #256,071 in Historical Fiction (Books)

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4.3 2,135 ratings

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Laura Rose
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Paul D Garrett

A Moving Story Triumphantly Told

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016

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This novel is a major triumph. There is no suspense, as we all know how the Romanov saga turns out. We know the horrors that await our eyes, and they are depicted, graphically, grippingly in the final pages. As in historical novels about other tragic figures, like Abraham Lincoln and Jesus of Nazareth, the reader (at least this reader) hopes against hope that it will end differently, but it cannot.

The triumph is in how author Laura Rose depicts how the Romanovs lived their lives in captivity following the October 1917 revolution. Marie Romanov, a mid-teenaged Grand Duchess, chafes in her diary at their deflated way of life but powers on, making the best of things. Russian fatalism haunts the novel. Marie and her sisters frequently reminisce about the way things had been, to the point of remembering favorite menus and meals. The disconnect between the imperial lifestyle and the real world of Russia in turmoil after World War I is palpable. Sometimes Marie shows that she understands the irreality, but at heart she longs to return to it. This tension is beautifully developed.

While Marie is the focus of the novel, how each member of the household, royals and servants alike, and their various Bolshevik captors react is carefully developed. Every character is complex and richly depicted. Ex-Tsar Nicholas is totally dysfunctional and fatalistic but intrinsically likeable; pulling off this characterization is quite a feat. The dynamics of the relationships of parents and children before and after the fall are depicted in smooth, often lyrical passages. Few emotions are left unexamined. The book brims with facts but they are always woven into the narrative. One can learn things from <i>The Passion of Marie Romanov,</i> but one never feels taught.

I majored in Russian literature half a century ago and lived among Russian Orthodox for decades, so my perspective might not be typical of other readers, but I was fully satisfied by the novel and believe that readers with no particular background in this area will thoroughly enjoy it and benefit from the reading.

25 people found this helpful

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S Watson

Historically Vivid and Compelling

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014

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This finely written novel is accurate to the actual history of the last year and a half in the life of Marie Romanov and her family. The author, Laura Rose, obviously researched some rare archival primary sources and I noted thousands of details never before included in any Romanov fiction. While there are several excellent NON-fiction works on this subject – Robert Massie’s "The Romanovs: The Final Chapter," Greg King and Penny Wilson’s "The Fate of the Romanovs," "The Fall of the Romanovs" by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrusalev, and the many published accounts of the Romanov retinue – there has not been a well-written literary novel until now. Until this history-based work of fiction, the only other novels were commercial fiction based on the ludicrous premise that one of the girls survived the execution to live in the U.S. Many serious readers of Romanov history have been wanting a fictional account that could recreate the story with authenticity. I was impressed by descriptions of previously unmentioned (in fiction) aspects of the Romanov history – the description of the souterrains (the subterranean chambers below the Alexander Palace); the accurate depiction of the measles outbreak in the Palace; the depiction of the ladies-in-waiting, especially of the almost simple-minded Anna Vyrubova whose interest in spiritualism led to the Tsarina’s involvement with Rasputin; inclusion of the Bolshevik dentist who treated the family in Tobolsk; the entire recreation of the trip in the crude horse cart, the tarantass, in which Marie and her mother had to ride across frozen Siberia…This novel also relates the two Russian revolutions – in an accurate and intelligent fashion.

I would give this compelling work of fiction 5 stars but I believe the author should have been more critical of the Tsarina and the Tsar himself who could have saved their children with a few prudent actions. I also doubt that Marie Romanov was as repulsed by Rasputin as relayed here. The girls were effectively brainwashed by their mother to regard Grigory Efimovitch/Rasputin as a holy man with mysterious spiritual power to save their brother’s life. There are many documented accounts of Grigory Efimovitch (Rasputin) having access to the OTMA bedchambers and the girls died wearing amulets with his portrait within. The daughters are reported, as they are here, mourning at his newly re-interred grave on the Palace grounds, and there is no evidence that they were immune to Alexandra’s insane devotion to this ignorant and dangerous mystic. No one suggests that Rasputin actually had sex with the daughters but anyone reading the governess’s letters would agree that his presence in young girls’ bedrooms was “inappropriate.” The fact that the author refers to Grigory Efimovitch or “Our Friend” is indication of the author’s scrupulous attention to the facts, as the girls would never have called him by his commonplace insulting name which was used in that time period only by his detractors – Rasputin means “the Dissolute.”

Anyone prudishly objecting to the single beautifully written sexual episode of Marie and the young guard is missing two important points: many of the historical non-fiction accounts record that Marie was caught in a compromising situation with a guard and to deny that a 19-year-old girl had normal hormonal desires is to turn the Romanov sisters into plaster, two-dimensional “saints.” This novel shows Marie as a girl of sensibility and talent in art and writing, a loving girl who could be expected to have romantic longings. The House of Special Purpose is also shown in vivid accurate detail – down to the peanut shells and dog refuse in the dirtied little garden. This is the work I have been waiting for – a work that doesn’t insult the intelligence of many Romanov readers who have wanted a literary interpretation of the events, and true-life “characters.” A vivid, compelling novel. I couldn’t put it down.

9 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Coming of age in turbulent times

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2018

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Life as a princess looks glamorous from the outside. Wealth and ease wave from gilded carriages. Some are enchanted by royalty; others are offended. In our world, power travels with a Secret Service entourage preventing harm from rivals and the masses. In times of rebellion, concentrated power creates a target. The Russian Tsars claimed by divine right the empire gained by their forebears. The early 1900s saw that empire, in the hands of Tsar Nicholas II of the Romanovs, crumble. The people suffered deprivations arising from World War I, although subjugation, need and greed were but a continuation of the historic pattern of the empire. Rebellion boiled over into revolution. The privations of the family of the Tsar, his wife, four daughters, and hemophiliac son, are detailed in this coming-of-age book centered on the third daughter, Marie.
Most readers will know how the story ends.
The travails of the family are heart-wrenching, as Marie’s claims to an individual life are thwarted by the sufferings of her small group. The book is well-written and an accurate refresher on the turbulent times and the interesting nation. It is a good read.

One person found this helpful

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PS

Fascinating

Reviewed in India on October 5, 2021

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It's a great book. The words carry you to through the events as if you were actually there witnessing them. Written beautifully and very elaboratly. It's like going back in time. You live the terror, the despair, the little joys and have the hope just as the romanovs had had. And the horrors of the end leave you struck with the images of what happened to them.. I would give it 10 stars if that was an option

Joan LeClair

The Passion of Marie Romanov

Reviewed in Canada on November 12, 2016

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This book deserves a 5 star rating . Although I knew the horrible ending, I found I could not put it down . IT WAS ALMOST AS IF I owed it to the real family to read it and think about it. I would like to know how much of the story told actually is true. Great descriptive writing by Laura Rose.

Reflecting, there are so many similar tragedies happening right now in our world. Maybe not to people "of station" but to real humans.

This story having been told so well would make anyone's heart ache.

One person found this helpful

Ms. A. Traczykowski

Fascinating history lesson.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2016

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This book is written as fiction and covers the downfall and death of the Romanov family. The Tzar, his wife, four daughters and one sickly son, suffer unbelievable indignity and cruelty the hands of their Bolshovic captors. It is written as a diary of one of the daughters, the Grand Duchess Marie. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I was shocked at what their life became, knowing that it was what happened in reality to the Russian royal family. Great read.

Avid Reader

We know the ending but the story is compelling anyway

Reviewed in Australia on May 29, 2017

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I loved this fictional account of the last chapter in the short, privileged, dazzling and doomed life of a Romanov princess. We all know what tragedy befalls her and her family but her story is a page turner anyway. Beautifully written, without sentimentality, it captured my imagination and attention from first page to the grisly last.

One person found this helpful

pearl

ロシア皇帝一家の悲惨な末路−良質な歴史小説だが最後の場面は残酷

Reviewed in Japan on January 4, 2015

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1917年，ロシア革命によってロマノフ朝最後の皇帝ニコライ2世，その妻，
一男四女の子供たちが，ボルシェビキに捕われて監禁され，まもなくシベリア
に流されて，翌年惨殺されるまで，約1年半にわたる皇帝一家の様子が，第三
皇女マリアの日記の形で綴られている．もちろん小説なので作者の想像が多分
に加えられているが，大筋は豊富な史料に基づいた内容である．ニコライ2世
は良き家庭人であったとされる．家長として一家を守り抜こうとする愛情に溢
れる一方，かなり浮き世離れした皇帝，それを支える気丈な皇后，病弱な長男，
仲の良い四姉妹の様子が，リアリティをもって描かれている．

著者はその後書きで述べている通り，「ロマノフ朝びいき」の立場であり，革
命側の視点からはまた違った記述もあり得るのだろうが，豪奢な宮廷生活を送
り，その宮廷を追われるに際しても数百着のドレス，数百足の靴のどれを持っ
て行くか頭を悩ますような境遇から，一夜にして「同志」と呼ばれ，日々の衣
食にも事欠いて，パン屑を集めて食べ，下着を繕うような生活を余儀なくされ
，皇女たちは赤軍兵士の卑猥な視線に耐える日々を送ることとなる悲哀には，
やはり同情を禁じ得ない．良質な歴史小説であるが，Epilogueとして描かれ
る最後の処刑の場面は，より一層具体的かつ残酷で，評価の分かれるところか
も知れない．

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