The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. With this treasure trove of diaries and letters from the grand duchesses to their friends and family, we learn that they were intelligent, sensitive and perceptive witnesses to the dark turmoil within their immediate family and the ominous approach of the Russian Revolution, the nightmare that would sweep their world away, and them along with it. Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses-Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov-were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle. They were the Princess Dianas of their day-perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. 'The public spoke of the sisters in a gentile, superficial manner, but Rappaport captures sections of letters and diary entries to showcase the sisters' thoughtfulness and intelligence.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review)įrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Days of the Romanovs and Caught in the Revolution, The Romanov Sisters reveals the untold stories of the four daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra. We see, almost for the first time, their journey from a childhood of enormous privilege, throughout which they led a very sheltered and largely simple life, to young womanhood – their first romantic crushes, their hopes and dreams, the difficulty of coping with a mother who was a chronic invalid and a haemophiliac brother, and, latterly, the trauma of the revolution and its terrible consequences.Ĭompellingly readable, meticulously researched and deeply moving, Four Sisters gives these young women a voice, and allows their story to resonate for readers almost a century after their death.'Helen Rappaport paints a compelling portrait of the doomed grand duchesses.' - People magazine Drawing on their own letters and diaries, she paints a vivid picture of their lives in the dying days of the Romanov dynasty. In Four Sisters acclaimed biographer Helen Rappaport offers readers the most authoritative account yet of the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias.

Together with their parents and their thirteen-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only seventeen. On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg.

The romanov sisters by helen rappaport