As a fan of historical fiction, I was eager to read/listen to a novel set in Russia during the Revolution. The narrator did an excellent job with pacing, keeping me engaged, and mimicking the accents of the characters without going over the top. The writing was disappointing, though, so much so, that I almost stopped about halfway through. The author was so busy describing what people were wearing that the plot suffered. There were also issues with authenticity. For example, “To hell and a handbasket” was a phrase used during the American Civil War and would not have been said in turn-of-the-century Russia. A good editor should have caught those missteps. Based on the synopsis, I expected more intrigue ̶ the Faberge eggs had very few secrets–and less about how the eggs looked.

As someone who enjoys Russian history I was excited to listen to this audiobook. However, the plot fell a little short for me. It was a very slow building plot and the characters were a little boring. I just couldn't get engaged in the story. The narrator was wonderful, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

The Faberge Secret takes us into the heart of St. Petersburg during the revolution. Dmitri is a Russian prince who becomes captivated with doctor Katya as the world around them erupts in discord caused by a pogrom against Jews. I love how Belfoure seamlessly blends historical facts with suspense to create an intense and entertaining work of historical fiction. This was excellent on audio and I really was captivated by the narrator throughout the entirety. This will be a good pick for book clubs.

To be honest, I could not get through this book, even with the audio and how short it is. I made it to the halfway point and could not find any reason to continue reading. With a book of such short a length, the character development and plot needed to happen much sooner and I was still waiting for something to happen at 4 hours into it.

Most things were told to the reader, and scenes that could have been emotionally hard hitting were not because I had no connection to the main character. The writing itself was very dry and I found myself drifting in and out of listening. I'm an avid audio listener so the medium was no the issue. Also wasn't a huge fan of the Russian accents by the narrator, but that has more to do with the performance than the book itself. I understand why it was done, I just found it to be distracting.

This is a review of an audiobook courtesy of Dreamscape Media and NetGalley in exchange for my review.

Set in St. Petersburg, Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, it is a time when the Russian Revolution is in its infancy, Prince Dimitri Markhov is married to Princess Lara and is perhaps Tsar Nicholas II’s best friend. Their marriage has become one of convenience with each one having their lovers as divorce is not possible. At one of the many balls of the time, Dimitri meets Dr. Katya Golitsyn and his world will never be the same as she introduces him to the persecution of the Jews and the brutal treatment of the masses. When he witnesses a pogrom and then is present for Bloody Sunday, he becomes convinced more than ever that he must do something to help. But how can he approach the Tsar? And how can he avoid the merciless protectors of the monarchy? Lest I forget, the title refers to the use of Faberge eggs within the royal palace to hide messages between the insurgents and those within the palace who are sympathetic to the cause. Although I thought the book started slowly, its pace picked up quickly. The narration was excellent (that is always key to a good “read” of an audiobook).
Having recently visited St. Petersburg for the second time, this book brought out memories of a wonderful trip but also made even more realistic the opulent life style of Russian royalty at the time. While the assassination of Nicholas, Alexandra and their children a few years later was horrific by any standard, this story does make you think about the anti-Semitism and poverty-stricken peasants rampant at the time as the arrogance of the ruling class sowed the seeds for the Soviet era and beyond in Russia.

As an avid reader of the historical fiction genre, I have to admit The Faberge Secret by Charles Belfoure is more fiction than historical. However, I did get swept away in all the intricate and vivid details of the early 1900s Russian Imperialism. The Czar and Czarina’s balls that include flowing ballgowns, dripping jewels and pure elegance on display.

Of course, court life would be nothing without its elaborate social calendar, rumors, outright lies and so much jealousy. This background leads the reader into a story of social inferiority, oppression and forbidden love. Sound familiar? It is, but not quite!

Charles Belfoure illustrates how elitists’ distain for ordinary people comes from leadership, the tone at the top, and how one’s surroundings become one’s own reality.

Due to ancestry and a lacking of his own family, Prince Dimitri Markhov is an aristocratic architect that is exceptionally close with the Tzar and his family. The Prince meets Doctor Katya Golitsyn in a chance encounter. He soon learns of the Czar’s persecution of Jews due to their religious beliefs. He begins to ponder the question, what do you build in your life?

As the gap between wealth and impoverishment grows, change is demanded and a revolt is oncoming. What happens when you are the social elite with an advisory role to your greatest friend, the Czar, and you acquire religious enlightenment and empathy? Does one’s perception change? If so, can you educate someone of such high prominence? After all, perception is seeing things as WE are. Caught between status and knowledge, Prince Dimitri must decide which side of history he is going to be on and what will it cost him in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5/5 stars

The last tsar of Russia and his family have been a fascination for me from a very young age. (Thank you, Anastasia!) I've read pretty much every non-fiction and fiction book available on the Romanovs. So, I was quite excited to see The Faberge Secret but also a little apprehensive. However, this is a wonderful book. Belfoure blends historical fact with this fictional narrative well, and it creates a fascinating story that you can't put down. He can write of the glittering royal court, busy St. Petersburg hospitals, pogroms, and more- all with the same skill. And I applaud him for highlighting the Imperial family's anti-Antisemitism. It is often avoided and ignored, but it had very real effects on millions of people. All in all, well worth your time! (I docked half a star because it ended rather abruptly.)

Nancy Peterson was a fantastic narrator- I thought she did a wonderful job of differentiating all of the characters without turning them into stereotypes or caricatures. Given just how much I've read about tsarist Russia, I was able to wonderfully escape into this story, and Peterson is a big part of that.

I’d like to give this a 3.5... it was entertaining, and I enjoyed the historical aspect, but it was just too “surface level” for me. I teach my students to “show, not tell” when writing but this author clearly never learned that. There was too much explanation- to the point I felt like maybe this was meant to be a YA novel (but ... too many extramarital dalliances, and too many gory deaths to include in a curriculum or even on my classroom shelf). He defines and explains EVERYTHING to a fault. There are also repetitions of a lot of descriptions ... in case we didn’t catch the minutiae the first time around.
I love historical fiction mostly because it inspires me to the research and read more. This didn’t - there was nothing new or interesting to explore.
The characters were lovely - and although quite “out of character”, I actually liked the sudden (*SPOILER ALERT*) reversal of Lara. I “liked” most of this book ... I just didn’t love anything and wasn’t intrigued by anything and wasn’t moved by anything. This the lackluster score.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media foe the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #DreamscapeMedia

Absolutely loved this story! Looking forward to reading more books by this author! Highly recommend!

I didn't know if this was a love story or a historical fiction book. There was a hint of a story in there somewhere, but mostly I felt like I was being taken back in time during the times of the Russian Empire. Once I heard the name Anastasia, I was kind of waiting for more on her or more of that story line to play out but it didn't. It was interesting enough, but even the ending was flat. The narrator had a good accent, but was so thick at times. I had no clue on what they were saying. A lot of details were nice, but it got so far that I forgot what the story was even about.

The subject matter of this book caught my attention and I was so excited to read this novel set in this historical backdrop. The author is well known for well researched and interesting stories set during historical time periods. I didn't realize this selection was an audio book when I requested it as I was so interested in the subject matter. I gave the audiobook a chance, however unfortunately audio books are not for me. I found it distracting and the beautiful prose and description of the scenery and characters was lost in translation. That said, if you enjoy audiobooks, this is a very interesting novel.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Set in the time before the Russian Revolution, a close friend of the tsar is brought around to the revolutionaries' side through what he sees and an emotional connection. Historical fiction lovers will enjoy this.

The Fabergé Secret introduces us to a fictional Russian prince, Dimitri Markhov, who is best pals with the Romanov Tsar and Tsarina. Through this character we learn about the oppression of Russian working-class citizens (particularly Jews) in the early 20th century, leading to Bloody Sunday (the Russian one in 1905), and carrying on through a variety of assassination attempts on the royal family because of spies among the staff serving them.

Given how rich this part of Russian history is, I don't think it was necessary to fictionalise so much, and my familiarity with some of the events (as a result of a fascination with the Romanovs as a kid) kind of took me out of the story. The book is also incredibly kind to Nicholas II, painting him as a mostly incompetent ruler rather than an actively malevolent tyrant.

The pacing of the story when it was happening was good, although a lot of time is spent developing things that aren't really necessary to the plot.

Nancy Peterson was the narrator of the audiobook and unfortunately, while she did a good job with the characters themselves, she pronounced "quay" as "kway" and not the correct "kee" and it was making me completely insane the entire time. The word appears a dozen times in the book and it was infuriating.

I would recommend this book for people who like heavily fictionalised spy novels set in history for sure.

I received a copy of this audiobook for free from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advance listen. Loved loved loved this audiobook. The author did an amazing job with all the characters. Love this time period and always enjoy reading a great book that can just draw you into the story and make it feel as if you are there. The author did just that. Book was narrated by Nancy Peterson. She did a fabulous job with each character brought them to life and kept me listening.

The Faberge Secret was really well produced as an audiobook and the narration is very enjoyable. The story presents an often unheard factor of the Russian Revolution and the religious struggle. I found the story well researched as someone who has done their own research on the revolution. The complexity of the Romanov family was well presented and the story was very enjoyable. Because there is a lot of discussion of history it is not the fastest moving audiobook, however if you're a fan of history you'll enjoy those insights.

Although this story was full of rich details about the extravagant court life, the characters themselves weren’t very detailed. They were mostly flat, except that the author worked really hard to make sure we knew that Tsar Nicholas and his family were good people, despite their ignorance and anti-Semitism. Ick. The plot fell short of being exciting. The sub plots about hiding notes in the Faberge eggs just didn’t work for me. I suppose the book was a pleasant enough diversion, but not memorable. I really liked The Paris Architect which was published a few years ago but this one didn’t land for me. Advance copy provided by NetGalley.

The Fabrege Secret by Charles Belfoure
Narrated by Nancy Peterson
Format - Audiobook
Genre - Historical Fiction
Book 5 out of 5 stars
Narration 5 out of 5 stars

This was an amazing book set right at the beginning of the revolution in Russia. The narrator was great and did amazingly well on the accents. I think that is what made the book come alive for me.

The story was about Prince Dimitri Markhov and Doctor Katya Golitsyn one of a few female doctors of the time. It is all about how the revolution was started and of course Fabrege Eggs and other gifts made in the Fabrege style. Some of the details about the eggs are amazing.

It also showed how the upper class of that time lived. Affairs ran rampant and it was not unheard of to have a ménage type sex life. In fact Dimitri was married at the time he met Katya. Although himself and his wife were both having extramarital affairs. All that changes when he meets Katya. He is devoted to her from there on out.

It also talks about the tensions between the Jews of the country and the upper classes. Plus some about tensions between Japan and Russia. I found out a lot about things that happened during that time. I was a bit disappointed that Rasputin was not in the picture yet at the time.

It was overall a very good summary of what was happening at the time.

Historical Note: In my research into the people in the book I could find nothing about Dimitri or Katya or the bombing that takes place in the book. I could possibly have not dived deep enough but keep that in mind while listening or reading. This is categorized as Historical Fiction so the author may have take liberties.

Personal Note: This book fascinated me because this was about the time my grandfather at age 7 immigrated to America because of his family sensing the upcoming revolution. That just added to the book for me.

The Romanov Dynasty is a few years from ruin and revolution. Set within the last few years of princes and Tsars, Prince Dimitri Markov is close to his family of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. The problem is he knows his loving and kind Tsar is completely blinded to the pogroms and revolution brewing in a country where the poor are in deep suffering.  Dimitri's wife Lara does not love him, but enjoys taking lovers. Dimitri does the same, hesitatingly. His true love is architecture, and he has been tasked to design the Tchaikovsky memorial hall and monument. Smart and desperate to make a change, Doctor Katya Golitsyn wants to end oppression in Russia, especially against the Jewish people. She and Dimitri meet at a royal ball and soon discover that though they are from different classes, they have far more in common than different. What begins is an affair that leads to both questioning their loyalties and the wisdom of the Tsar.

Narrator Nancy Peterson narrates this historical fiction novel by Charles Belfoure. The details are specific, the historical items well researched, but I have to say that the attitudes are purely American and it shows for people who are well-versed in Russian culture and history. Still, the book is a great deal of fun and enjoyable. The writing is lyrical and beautiful, making it easy to picture the ballrooms and bored Russian figures depicted as part of the upper class. 

The Faberge Secret is a fun listen and fascinating.

Charles Belfoure has a knack for giving the reader a great story, insight into the culture of the day and the people living in its time. This book takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1903. Prince Dimitri is a friend of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife. The Tsar and Dimitri are not aware of the treatment of Jews until Dimitri falls in love with Doctor Katya and tries to right the treatment of the common folk. A look at the privileged Russians was interesting especially when compared to the common people. I loved learning about the Faberge eggs and their designs as well as the love the people held for them. Tsar Nicholas loved his children their and the interaction both in the home and outside were endearing. The reader learns a lot about the historical incidents and is treated to an exciting story.

In 1903 St Petersburg, Prince Dimitri Markhov is an architect and friend of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra. Dimitri is married to Princess Lara, but they have a loveless and extremely open marriage. When Dimitri meets Doctor Katya Golitsyn they are both immediately smitten. Dimitri starts to attend Katya’s art circle where Dimitri learns, amazingly for the first time, that non-nobles aren’t treated all that well in Russia. At the same time, the Tsar’s environment has been infiltrated by revolution sympathizers who exchange coded messages by hiding them in some of the Tsar’s collection of Fabergé eggs.

The descriptions of the Fabergé eggs were fascinating with their elaborate interiors. My only exposure to them has been from photographs (although I did see some of the exteriors when I briefly worked in an office building that housed a small collection of the eggs). However, that is a problem with the book; there is a lot of description. Every room, dress, hairstyle, menu, etc. is described in excruciating detail. Everything is explained, to the extent that I felt talked down to. If you don’t know the meaning of “challah” that’s why dictionaries were invented. Especially in the beginning, the book had a lot of info dumps. We are also told, rather than shown, what people are feeling.

This is an historical romance that is pretty light on the history. I don’t know a lot about the Russian Revolution, but it felt like the author used “The Russian Revolution for Dummies” as his source material, and the treatment of history was very simplistic. A lot more attention was paid to making the rooms seem realistic than the actions of the characters. Did princes suddenly flip and join the Revolution? Would Katya really bring her married prince home to have dinner with her family? I’m not convinced. Oh well, so long as love survives there is no need to worry about the messy details of a revolution. 3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.