When it comes to the Romanov women, It’s easy to highlight the excesses and dismiss their everyday lives as privileged and coddled. By focusing on one specific Romanov, Gortner depicts the weight they carried, and the fear and losses they bore. The sensationalism that often accompanies tales of the end of the monarchy is absent here, but knowing what is coming creates a palpable foreboding and an escalating sense of tragedy from the beginning.

The writing seems to take a couple chapters to settle in and is a bit choppy at first. There are a lot of characters with the same or similar names, and it would be helpful to have a list at the beginning of the book for reference. Regardless, it is a good piece of historical fiction that is well worth the read.

The Romanov Empress is a historical fiction novel about the Danish princess who would become Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the last tsar of Russia. We meet Minnie, as those close to her call her, as a young lady bidding her sister Alix farewell as she heads off to begin her life as the wife of Queen Victoria's oldest son. Through a series of both happy and unfortunate events, Minnie soon finds herself marrying into the powerful Romanov family and becoming the mother of the next generation of Romanovs, to include the last Russian tsar. Her story takes place during a very unstable and tumultuous time in Russian political history, making her family the target of terrorist attacks and angry protesters. Illness also took many of those close to her. Through all this, she continued to thrive, becoming a dedicated mother/grandmother and ruler behind the scenes. Prior to reading this book, I didn't know much about this infamous member of Russian history. I always appreciate reading books I can learn from. The author did a wonderful job of setting the scenes historically, whether we find ourselves in St. Petersburg, Russia or Denmark. Minnie is a very complex character. She has an incredibly close relationship with her oldest son which causes her to come across as a very overprotective mother bear, especially when it came to his eventual marriage. Readers are also introduced to other infamous member from European history, such as Queen Victoria, Rasputin, and Vladimir Putin. While Minnie's story comes to a tragic end, I still felt that the author did an admirable job of telling the story of this strong, courageous woman. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Russian history or historical fiction.

A compelling fictional story based on the life of Empress Maria Feodorovna and narrated by the mother of Russia's prior tsar. She was the Princess Dagmar of Denmark before marrying the heir to the Russian throne. She goes by "Minnie" and at the tender age of nineteen begins a life that will take her down many paths.

I was fascinated with the ambiance of the time period in Russia. Luxurious living, the royal jewels and all the Russian culture to the heartbreak of disease and war, this was such a captivating story. I loved following Minnie's life in Russia from the palace to the fight to save their empire.

Minnie ultimately had to face many struggles and she proved to be such a strong woman and a bold leader. She will witness the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and try to hold her family together. The politics, the strong family bonds as well as all the inner family drama added to the intrigue of this absorbing tale set in a turbulent historical time period. It is well written and richly detailed. I enjoyed reading about the Romanov Dynasty.

Review will post to my Blog on July 24,2018 as part of blog tour. Amazon review will post on publication date July 10,2018.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

I wish I could travel back in time to live in this book. Imperial Russia has always been a huge interest of mine! This book was phenomenal! The description, the details! I enjoyed it all! A huge must read for any fans of not only the author C.W. Gortner, but of other historical fiction authors such as Philippa Gregory or Michelle Moran!

Normally, I tend to read books quickly. Not this time. It took me weeks to finally finish but not because it wasn't interesting, actually it was quite the opposite. Not only did I want to use a dictionary in order to understand some unfamiliar words but I also ended up spending lots of time researching some of the characters online. I used to think that I hated history because it was boring until I discovered that I actually do enjoy learning about it if it is told as an interesting story as opposed to reading about it in a history book. Thanks to C.W. I have a better understanding about what took place during that period of time through the eyes of Tsarina Maria Feodorvna.

The central figure of this book is Maria Feodorovna or Minnie, the mother of the last tsar of Russia. Of the royal house of Denmark, Minnie wasn’t meant to marry the tsar she did…Accepting her fate, she takes on the role of empress and becomes the strong, influential wife of the tsar. Despite not being Russian, she holds her own and becomes a crucial part of the court. But all’s not well with uprisings becoming frequent and devastating. Her reign as empress transitions when her husband dies - passing the baton to their son Nicholas. We know the history, the fall of the Romanov Empire and the eventual fate of members of the family. What C.W. Gortner does is take us into the day-to-day lives of the royal family and of the times. Full of intrigues, the positioning and the distinct dislike Minnie had for her daughter-in-law Alexandra, including the inexplicable relationship Alexandra had with Rasputin. There were so many characters who passed in and out of the book that I sometimes felt Gortner would have been better served not including all of them. While Minnie was definitely the central character and well fleshed out, I felt there was something missing - she felt flat and more like a character in a book rather than a real-life person - unlike the other two Gortner books I’ve read - Madame Chanel and The Last Queen. I enjoyed those two much more than this one. However, I learned more about Russia, Minnie and the fall of the Romanovs. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the author’s other books. My three stars do mean it was good and worth the read! Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I have long been fascinated with the Romanov family and their tragic end. Although I have read many books about them, this one gave me a fresh point of view. It is told from the perspective of Minnie, a Danish princess who marries into the Russian royal family. We follow her life as a teenager moving to Russia, eventually becoming Empress and then mother to Czar Nicholas. She witnesses the changes and discord that happen over her lifetime in Russia, eventually culminating in WWI, the Russian revolution and the demise of her entire family. This book is really well-researched and educational, but it reads like a great, well-written novel.

This novel was such a treat. I've been long fascinated with the Romanovs, mainly because of Anastasia. I've read every book with her as the protagonist. I had just completed I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon when I learned of CW Gortner's newest book and did a happy dance. I loved that this was through the perspective of Anastasia's grandmother. I adored​ ​Maria Feodorovna. Her tenacity, her resolve, her compassion. This novel was very much a page-turning saga of her life. The novel also introduced me to new people, such as Victoria, and I gladly proceeded to binge-watch PBS's series on her younger years. All in all, this is exactly the type of historical novel I love. It touched upon an area that greatly interests me, it delivered, and it sparked ​interest in new people/stories.

Gortner is one of this generations great authors. This book was amazing. I loved how connected I was with the characters. The look past the imperial curtain was amazing. Gortner draws the reader in, to where you are part of the story. Great work!

I enjoyed this book! I had no idea any of these things had happened. I enjoy insight into what life must have been for royals in those days. Arranged marriages for the good of the realm and such. I also enjoyed the love story between the main characters as well. Finding love when you least expected it.

I loved this book! I've read so many books over Anastasia and the murdered members of the Romanov family. It's interesting to examine the events that led up to that murder from a new point of view. This book is full of realistic emotion and explanation of the years of Maria Feoderovna's life and the lives of her families from a refreshing point of view. Top marks!

I read one of C.W. Gortner's books about Juana of Castile years ago and loved it. As a result, I always pay attention whenever there's something new from this author. "The Romanov Empress" does not disappoint. It's an entertaining, engrossing read that does what I always want my period fiction to do - tell a good story, yes, but also make me interested enough in a time period or historical figure to seek out more information on it/them on my own. I want to learn more about teh real life of Maria Feodorovna now, and that's the highest compliment I can pay this story.

5 stars...

I have loved everything I have read by CW Gortner, but this surpassed my expectations! The writing was superb...voiced so well by Minnie. I was truly engrossed the whole book!

I have done peripheral reading on Russian royalty, mostly starring Tsar Nicolas' children. The Romanov Empress covers this and so much more! Although the plight of the last Russian Tsar is covered, it is minimal while still giving a good picture of the time period and family life. Dagmar of Denmark, aka Tsarina Maria Fedorovna, aka Minnie bridges several generations of Romanovs, and gives us insight into more than just her son's rule. It was fascinating to me! Her family touched many of the main countries Royal families in was you probably didn't know before. Even if she wasn't the mother of Tsar Nicolas, her story would be so interesting and relevant. It begins with her slightly impoverished childhood in Denmark and reading it will tell you where it ends. I highly recommend it to lovers of Royal or Russian fiction-you won't want to miss it!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, CW Gortner, & Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for an ARC to read and honestly review!**

Follow Danish princess Minnie as she becomes the tsarevna of Russia, Maria Feodorvna. As the Romanov family is faced with threats from their people, this woman does everything she can to protect her family only to face tragedy.

This fictional look at a bold woman who was the mother of the last tsar was one I couldn't put down. I'd never read about this particular royal before, and I was fascinated as I watched her grow through the pages of this book. Her love for her country shone through the narrative.

I loved taking a closer look at this remarkable woman. There were a couple instances of sex scenes, although they were not too detailed. Though this spans the majority of Maria Feodorvna's life, it doesn't feel too long.

I would recommend this to any reader who is interested in the Romanovs or for any reader who enjoys historical novels, fiction or not so much.

A rich, detailed and highly engrossing look at the life of Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Alexander III and mother of Tsar Nicholas, the last Romanov Tsar. I am familiar with the lives of the last Tsar and his wife but had little to no idea about his mother, who was born a member of the Danish royal family and not raised in the ostentatious fashion indicative of Tsarist Russia. Gortner has written other historical fiction books, but I have yet to read any of them even though they seem like they would be right up my alley. However, having read this tome over the last few weeks and having loved it, I would definitely like to see what else is on offer from this author.
The story follows the Dowager Empress from her birth in Denmark and early life through her engagement to Nixa (the original tsarevich) and following his death, her marriage to his brother. I was entranced by the descriptions of the historical occasions, costumes and characters and transported to late 18th century Russia.
I would absolutely recommend this book.

I have been on a royal historical fiction kick lately. I absolutely love the War of the Roses, the Victorian Era and of course, The Romanovs. Now, given that author C.W. Gortner wrote this book, I assumed I'd love it but I read it one sitting--from 9 PM to 1 AM! The story follows Dagmar of Denmark (known as Maria Feodorovna when she married into the Imperial Family) and the trials and tribulations she faced at one of the most rebellious and revolutionary times in Russian history. I loved how real she felt, how her pain and happiness felt so true to both the time period she lived in and true to how a woman could feel in those situations. It was such a wonderful read...highly recommend!

This is a story of a young woman who came from impoverished royal family, became Russian tsarina and one of the wealthiest women in the world. In the end, she was forced to flee the country during the Russian Revolution, leaving her penniless and dependent on the charity of the British royal family.

This is a story of Princess Dagmar of Denmark, whose eldest son was the last Russian monarch. She marked the history as a resilient woman, who early on learned the Russian language, embraced its people and customs, and devoted her time to charities rather than politics. But when needed she knew how to rule. “Being a member of the imperial family came with obligation. I had discovered mine.” It was administration of the Red Cross.

In 1866 Princess Dagmar of Denmark, known as Minnie, agrees to marry Alexander III of Russia. Once in Russia, she converts to Orthodoxy and adopts her new name Maria Feodorovna. “I was no longer the impoverished daughter of a once-negligible family, a princess of no power. I was indeed a Romanov now…”

Her time in Russia, from early on, is marked by revolutions. The Nihilists are against anything established in social order including monarchy and religion. Minnie’s husband’s father, the ruling tsar Alexander II frees the serfs. He recognizes that change is inevitable. She understands her father-in-law as well as she recognizes that her husband stands for something else, and she needs “to pry open his constrained view.” As he stands by, “Autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality are the three pillars of Russia, where the tsar is ordained by God to rule, not to tear down God’s rule.”

The freed serfs move to the cities in search of jobs, but this creates another exploitation of cheap labor at factories. This gives Nihilists fuel to urge serfs to rise up against monarchy.

She offers her help in managing Red Cross as their help might be very much in need in case of brewing revolutionary war. The experience makes her eyes wide open, “While we dwelled in splendor, Russia suffered right under our unseeing eyes. (…) Not only was the need overwhelming, there seemed to be no way to relieve it.” Now, she understood the hatred of Nihilists.

“It took months of disentangling the bureaucratic knots that had resulted in more than half of the Red Cross funds being redirected into unscrupulous pockets…”

After the death of her husband, her oldest son Nicholas becomes the Emperor, and his wife tsarina, who takes the title from Minnie. This and other issues put restrains between two women.

With poor economy and rising riots and violent demonstrations, the tsar declares Russia under a semi-constitutional monarchy. What his father had planned years ago and he was opposed to, now was a reality.

In 1917, the provisional Duma and Soviet government assume charge of the state.

The story starts very strong, with moving prose intertwined with rich historical details, it moves from the palaces of Copenhagen to the palaces of Saint Petersburg and outside the city. White nights and cold winters are infused with rich traditions and trials of life. Human emotions are beautifully expressed through the lives of imperial family, who were privileged, but humans as the rest of us.

However, the last 30% of the book is a bit drawn-out, slowing the pace. It is enlightening to have an overview of the events, and to be acquainted with the influence of Grigori Rasputin over the royal family. But to keep the pace steady, the end of the book could have been a bit more condensed.

Overall, it is a very interesting read and highly recommend it.

Also, highly recommend The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner. About one of the most powerful women of her time.

@FB/BestHistoricalFiction

“Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper”

--“Talkin’ Bout a Revolution,” Tracy Chapman, Songwriters: Tracy Chapman


Danish princesses, the daughters of the man who would come to be Denmark’s King Christian IX, Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar, Minnie, or Dagmar to her father, and her older sister, Alexandra, Alix, were both predestined to marry into royalty. Alix, of course, would marry first, and married Edward VII (Albert Edward), known to his family as Bertie, the son of Queen Victoria.

Minnie meets, and ultimately is courted by Nixa, Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, and a courtship ensues, and suddenly she finds herself busy preparing for a new life.

”Nixa had chosen me, for me. I’d not made it a simple task, but in the end he won my heart—not because he was the tsarevich but because of who he was inside. I fell in love with Nixa Romanov himself, with his gentle spirit and noble soul.”

Plans are being made, letters exchanged, professional portraits are taken, and exchanged, and – romantic that he is – he sends her a box of books. Russian fairy tales, poetry, novels by Tolstoy, and a Russian primer. Purchases were made for her trousseau, in order that she could ”travel to my nuptials dressed in the latest styles.” All was going smoothly when the telegram arrived.

She notices first the quiver in her mother’s voice when she says her name. Something has happened. Her Nixa has been thrown from his horse, and the situation has worsened. He has asked to see her, and they must leave quickly, he has spinal meningitis.

Along the way, praying for a miracle, for his recovery, she thinks of the life together they have planned, but can’t envision, can’t bear to think of a life without him.

Nixa, understanding his duty to his country as well, seeks to obtain a promise from Minnie to marry his brother, Sasha, from whom he extracted a matching promise. Eventually she concedes, wanting to offer him some solace in his last minutes.

Maria Feodorovna as she came to be known to the world, but still Minnie to family, marries Sasha, Tsesarevich Alexander of Russia, Minnie becoming Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia. In time, she will come to be the mother of the last Russian tsar.

It is a time of much change, although serfdom had already been done away with, there is much anarchy and the people want more. It is a country, at the start, of those that have everything they need and everything they want, while others live in poverty. And while Maria has grown somewhat accustomed to her more opulent lifestyle, she is moved by the conditions. While she never was as poverty stricken as some of these people, she did not grow up in an affluent home. As much as she tries to persuade Sasha to improve the conditions of the poor, he can’t concern himself with such things.

Politics and policies through the generations, the lavish luxury, revolutions, designer ball gowns, manipulations, the gems, dissention, the palaces, the poverty. It’s a land on the brink. Enter Rasputin, and piece-by-piece it all goes to hell, through massive manipulation.

Everywhere around her, it seems Maria can’t make anyone see what is happening, but nothing will stop her from trying, and her frustrations abound.

This is the first book I have read by C.W. Gortner, who has painted a lovely picture of this woman, from her earlier years to her later years, and this time and place in history. It’s a look at a life that was, at times, fraught with peril, and at times filled with love. It certainly is not your average life, and I felt that it was a very thorough, perhaps sometimes overly so, look at this very unique time and place in history, covering the years 1862 through 1918. Years filled with power struggles and revolution, and while there may be a few adjustments, amendments or adaptations to this fictionalized account, it is clear after reading this that the author has clearly done his research.



Pub Date: 10 JUL 2018


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books

Dagmar, the daughter of impoverished royalty becomes the empress of All Russia. Royalty, yet so impoverished that she darned and repaired her own clothing. Then her father becomes the unlikely King of Denmark, and later is called The Father In Law of Europe as he either married off his children to royals, or they became rulers of other countries in their own right. One of the daughters he married off was Dagmar, going to the Tsarevich of Russia. As she began her path to marriage, she had some bumps in the road, but she was accepted and loved by the Romanov family. This marriage resulted in her changing her religion and her name, she became Maria Feodorovna. Her father in law, Alexander II, had a vision of allowing the people of Russia more say in the government, even allowing a constitution, which Maria believed in, as many other monarchies had done well under this kind of change. He was however, assassinated, causing his son Alexander III and Maria to become tsar and tsarina . Alexander III had very different views than his father, causing problems between him and Maria on what they both wanted for Mother Russia. She turned to social issues and raising her children but was still opinionated about how to rule. Her oldest son was Nicholas II, who against his parents wishes, married Alexandra, Princess Alix of Hesse. Throughout the three generations that effected Maria's life we see with the perfect clarity of hindsight, how the fall of the Empire of Russia, and the Romanov family happened.
While historical fiction is my go to genre, this is my first book by C. W. Gortner. I will be looking for more of her works. She has researched her subjects well, and pulls the reader into her books. I happily recommend this book to you, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Though I have always been infatuated with the tale of Anastasia, I didn't know much about her grandmother, The Dowager Empress. This novel goes through the various stages that Maria Feodorovna goes through. First, her childhood as a Danish girl, her engagement with the Russian royalty, and her marriage, and then as the Empress, watching over her children as they take on their own roles.

Knowing what happens to the Romanov family, one knows this isn't going to be a happy tale. Full of revolution, threats, and political scandals, there are moments of happiness that are hidden among the lives of the Romanovs.
I really felt myself immersed in this novel as the story began, Gortner has a way to entrance his audience and make them read this books in one sitting. As far as how historically accurate everything is, I'm not entirely sure, but it made for a very good story!

Being inside of Maria's head was something that was also really refreshing to see, rather than hearing the tale from Nicholas or Anastasia, two people who might have been too close to the state in Russia, or too young, we see Maria's opinions. How she disliked her son's wife, and seemed to have good reason to, even if the reader couldn't see it at times.

I will definitely be looking into Gortner's future historical fiction novels, because this was very enjoyable to read.

I was given this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Ballentine books for allowing me to read this novel!