This book is jam packed with super interesting information about a time and place in history I had no idea about. When I picked up this book I thought it would be solely about what the Romanovs did after the Russian Revolution but it is so much more! This book gives a comprehensive look at what life in Paris was like for Russians living in Paris pre-Russian Revolution, during, and after.

The first couple of chapters of this book covers what Russians in Paris looked like during pre-Russian Revolution. And honestly it kind of read like an art/culture history book. Covering all of the Russian influencers that operated out of Paris at this time. And while super interesting, I thought I had picked up the wrong book. The real meaty parts of the book I liked was when Rappaport covered what the Russian refugees lives were like when they fled to Paris and what they did to survive, and what the culture was like for them, living essentially countryless. I will say the thing that did kind of turn me off from this book is that so many names were thrown at you so fast, that after a while it was hard to decide who to pay attention to, because some of them are mentioned again and again through the book, and others just have this one chapter or one paragraph dedicated to them. If I had more knowledge about influential Russian artists of the time maybe the names would have stuck out to me more, but coming into this book essentially only knowing about the Romanovs and maybe Stravinsky I was a little lost.

Overall really enjoyed the read. It was quite educational, and the pace of the book does move quickly. Rappaport made it very easy to understand the geopolitical history at play, and gave all the necessary background, so that if you had only a sketch of an idea of what was going on at this point in history you can still follow this specific story.

Would highly recommend for those who are looking to learn more about Russian history or the history of Europe between the World Wars.

This book is so well-done. It's astounding to me that research this great can be done during a global pandemic. What a feat! I've read Rappaport's work before so it wasn't a surprise that the work would be wonderful but in nonfiction it's always lovely when there's story to go with the research. I focused on Soviet history in my undergrad career so the emigration of Russians abroad in the founding years of the Soviet state was always just a footnote of my studies, a "this happened but let's move on" kind of topic.

To say I didn't know much would be a terrible understatement. I knew *nothing* of not just the history itself but the people who lived it. Rappaport gives you all the facts but brings the humanity into it. Through the experience of these Russians you get a sense of the emigrant experience still felt throughout the world today. It was a bit shocking how visceral it felt from a nonfiction book but I think that was a welcome surprise.

I'd absolutely recommend this book to any nonfiction reader of history but I think those with extra interest in Russian history, the emigrant experience, Russian arts/culture, and Paris as a whole will find even more to enjoy.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

A digestible book for those interested in the topic. It's clear the author does meticulous research and has a passion for her work. It is a little dense, though Rappaport's prose is easy to understand, and it's more "factual" rather than leaning toward the narrative story structure which might be a turn off for a casual reader without the curiosity and patience for topic.

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque through Revolution and War by Helen Rappaport reads like a work of fiction, yet it is a true account of what happened before, during and after the Russian Revolution. The Romanov dynasty had fallen and were exiled. Russian aristocrats had always enjoyed spending time in Paris and Paris was where many of them went when they fled their homeland, some of them without means of support. Their lives were never the same again. The contrast between the luxury they enjoyed in Paris previously and the impoverished existence they now endured is striking. Life in exile was difficult and many worked at menial labour to keep the wolf from the door. The author recounts a terrible time for the Romanovs and how they overcame the loss of their homeland and made a life in a foreign land. When you read the acknowledgements, it will become apparent how difficult research can be during a pandemic and this is a credit to Helen Rappaport’s dedication in writing this book. Highly recommended. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Rappaport's writing style and she serves her subjects well. All of her books on the Romanovs have been incredibly thorough and well-researched. She is a fantastic historian.

Don't let the main title mislead: this history begins well before the Romanov Tsars and Russian nobility were overthrown in 1917. Beginning with la Belle Epoque, there's a thorough discussion of the Russian princes who made their main homes in Paris while Tsars still ruled in their homeland. Your head will whirl with the names of Grand Dukes, Grand Duchesses, morgantic wives, mistresses, dancers, painters, impresarios. You will find yourself referring back often to the cast of characters in the front matter.

What you won't find is much reference to the last Tsar and his unfortunate family. We all know their fate.

The early chapters form a rich tapestry of the glittering pre-Revoluntionary Russian cultural outpost gaining its foothold in Paris. The importance of noble patrons for ballet, opera, theatre, and painting cannot be understated. Without their early money and influence behind impresarios such as Diaghilev, much of Russian culture might well have vanished forever in the flames of revolution sweeping Moscow, St. Petersburg & other cities, and its influence on modern ballet, theatre, and art lost.

Those who came latest fared worst in their ability to smuggle out enough material wealth to survive on. Then, as now, immigrants were seen as taking jobs from deserving locals. Resentment ran higher in some quarters than others, and newspaper editorials in many countries openly gloated, rather than commiserated, over the aristocrats, doctors, lawyers, and others thus humbled. For page after page, vignette after vignette, a life begun in a palace ends with death in a single small room on foreign soil. The looming menace of WW2 put the final hammer down on the formerly glittering Russian emigre circles in Paris. After that war the new emigre heartland was New York City, and around the world, more and more emigres began to shift their emotional identification from the old, barely remembered Tsarist Russia to the new, powerful Soviet Union.

All this is but a superficial recounting of what is a veritable hailstorm of similar stories gathered by Dr. Helen Rappaport, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a specialist in Imperial Russian and Victorian history, into this dense but readable recounting of one of Europe's largest and wealthiest emigrations.

I enjoyed reading about the Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals who sought refuge in Paris following the Russian Revolution. I especially enjoyed the details about how they mingled with the members of the Lost Generation in the Parisian cafes, and the detailed accounts of Zelda Fitzgerald and her Russian ballet teacher. As a Zelda fan, I had heard about her devotion to ballet, but had known little about her instructor. I found the stories of the emigres who became taxi drivers the most fascinating, how they practiced and trained and how hard they worked. Being a taxi driver was the most sought after job, so much so that the French Labor Minister banned emigres from taking the test. If you enjoy stories set in Paris in the 1920s, or Russian historical fiction about the Romanovs or the Russian Revolution, pick up this book. It will give you much of the historical details referenced in those works of fiction. Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this gifted copy.

This book is an arid history of the Russians and the Belle Époque era and how the Russians lived their lives after the Romanov's deaths. This is a very stiff look into this time period, which I found to be very unemotional. So I think this book will resonate with those who don't want to mix a bit of fluff (for example non verified conversations/relationships) with their history.

We continue on to read how the titled managed to live in some of the countries they escaped to.


This is a brilliant history with footnotes aplenty!

*ARC supplied by St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and the author

I would give this 2.5 stars.

This is a very specific book. It covers the aspects and details of people forced to leave Russia when the Bolsheviks took over. It mostly focuses on those who wound up in Paris. Although it does flow most of the time, there are sections that come across like a textbook; a bit dry and overcrowded with minute details.
I can understand the author's desire to include as much as possible; to preserve these events that happened a century ago. But even I, a historophile, felt bogged down with too many French terms and (unpronouncable) Russian names. Not to mention multiple descriptions of a relatively obscure writer by other even more obscure writers.

I was very mislead by the title. I assumed it would cover what happened to the Royal family and court. And perhaps some of the military leaders loyal to them. This covers EVERYONE; Princes, Princesses, generals, writers, ballerinas, composers, poets, artists.....many of which you will never have heard of prior to reading this book.

Do not attempt to read this unless you are an adamant lover of history! Even better would be someone who loves European or specifically French or Russian history. Otherwise this book will drag on interminably.

I have read the previous Romanovs books by this author and I very much liked this.
This one is interesting and I did like it but not as much as the previous books. With this book, I was a little confused at the beginning with all the people mentioned in the book. I did enjoy the writing though.

I had trouble starting this book. The combination of difficult names and starting in ballet was challenging. I am glad that I didn't give up, as this is an area of history that I knew little about. This tells about the survival of the Russian aristocratic class following the Russian revolution. I read an electronic copy curtesy of NetGalley.

I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an advance reader copy of this story.

After the Romanovs is certainly just that. It's filled with colorful expatriate Russian characters who've wound up in Paris from the late 1800's onward. There has been much attention paid to dates and places, but it seemed more a college textbook than one to read purely for pleasure. There are bits and pieces of history that don't necessarily blend from one to the next. I picked it up and put it down many times, my head swimming with foreign names and more than a few words I had to look up. I consider myself well educated and well-read but this tome could use a little dumbing down for the commercial masses who may not run to the dictionary. I got pretty tired of it myself.

#AftertheRomanovs #Netgalley #HelenRappaport #StMartin'sPress #history #Russianhistory

A detailed history of Russian exiles and emigrès who fled to Paris, once a bastion of excess for the wealthy and aristocratic. Now it is an unwilling host to those who lost everything.

I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. So many names and notables! My favorite stories were of the writers and artists who tried to keep Russia alive in their works. Rappaport provides exhaustive first hand accounts of those who fled their country as well as the thoughts of their contemporaries.

Not an easy read, this detailed history of the period between Russian exile and the world wars is dense and detailed.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for my free copy.

After the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport covers just that period and beyond, sweeping over the Belle Époque period and ending in the 1950s. With an introduction to the brewing tensions that resulted in the murder of the tsar and his family and the mass exodus of royalty and anyone associated with the Romanovs, it's an interesting look at what happened to all these people.

When all this unrest occurs, many displaced people, including literary and musical luminaries, fled to Paris and places not far from the City of Light. It's a glaring look at the changes that people who barely lifted a finger to work must now completely revamp their lives to survive.

A stark episode involves some of these formerly wealthy people riding on a boat toward their new fates and handing over incredibly expensive jewelry and other priceless baubles to get a piece of bread. The conditions on the boat are truly deplorable with snow blanketing the travelers and large rats running around. It's a shock.

Russians who once held an esteemed place in society must now ferry others in cabs, play doorman, or sew garments for whatever the equivalent of pennies are. It's humbling to them, distasteful and disturbing to others, while some will do anything they can to survive. It's bleak many times and tragedy befalls many of the people who still hold out hope that Mother Russia will return to its roots again.

How ironic that I'm reading this book during all the unrest between Russia and the Ukraine right now. It's almost too appropriate to read this book at the time. You realize that this area of the world combats unrest so often that you wonder if it can ever be a peaceful place. It's not hard to read, just sobering and, at times, dense.

I was offered this book to read, and I took a chance on it because it sounded intriguing. Except for stumbling over the pronunciations of names and keeping track of the long list of people, I really enjoyed the book. And you don't really have to keep track of the "characters"--the stories keep you reading, anyway.

Really well researched and accessibly written while still leaving space for inquire elsewhere by staying on topic. However, do not go in looking for Romanovs go in looking for more Paris based in the storytelling.

If you’ve ever had any kind of interest in the lives of Russians who fled their home country after the deaths of the royal family in 1918, this is the nonfiction book for you!

This was an intensely researched and absolutely fascinating read! The first part of the book covers the lives of the Russian aristocracy enjoying the wealth and art and culture of Paris and was slightly less interesting to me. The rest of the book deals with the hardships and difficulties the faced the former Russian elite. The homes they lost, the sacrifices they made. It was fascinating to read about Imperial generals working as taxi drivers and poets and artists working as waitstaff. I especially loved the inclusion of bits of poetry written by Russian emigrés. The longing for a lost home, the frustration were all very poignant.

I was disappointed to see the repeated use of a slur for the Roma people when there are other words to use. It also took some getting used to, separating out the numbers hyperlinked to footnotes at the end of each chapter and the numbers used to reference back to the Bibliography and Notes sections. And I kind of wish that more civilian lives had been covered, although I understand that that is not the point of this particular book. But it has inspired me to do my own further research into several people mentioned.

After the Romanovs: by Helen Rappaport. I love historical books, and this one was a hit. I really enjoyed this book and was touched by how closely it relates to today's world and the people fleeing Ukraine.

The Romanovs are some of the most fascinating people in Russian history. I have read several books on them, and I find Ms. Rappaport's book to be quite well-researched and accurate in detail. This is the first book I have read by her, and I now plan to go back and reading some of her other books.

I wish they had a 4.5 star rating, but since they don't, I give it only 4 stars and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Russian/world history.

a wonderful informative historical story filled with interesting complex characters. The tragic events and unpredictable occurances make this a page turner and a must read.!

After the Romanovs
by: Helen Rappaport
St. Martin's Press

Historian Helen Rappaport has written a very well-researched and detailed non-fiction book. The book is an account of Russians who lived in Paris both during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. History buffs will devour this book and seek out more by this author.
Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy and opportunity to provide my unbiased review.

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War, by Helen Rappaport.
A perfect book to read today, as Russia invades Ukraine and millions flee to safety. You can’t help but notice the similarities, the repetition of time and history. In the late 1910s Bolsheviks take over Russia and thousands become refugees. A hundred years later Putin takes over Ukraine and hundreds of thousands more become refugees. Since the beginning, someone, somewhere has always held the label “refugee”. Yet the parallels between these two stories go much further. Reading a sentence in this book about people fleeing from Odessa with nothing but a bag, you’d almost believe you were reading a news article written just hours ago. What a difference 100 years can make, and yet, we always seem to find ourselves back in this place.
You can find plenty of other little gems in this book. Look out for stories about Chanel, Hemingway, and Versailles. Rappaport moves effortlessly between broad overviews of history and charming anecdotes.