After the Romanovs is a beautiful and deeply intimate view of the lives of post-revolution Russian nobility, and their lives after escaping to (mainly) Paris following the Communist takeover. The book actually begins prior to the revolution, showing a stark contrast between earlier visits to Paris, full with opulence, the owning of multiple properties (or rather, multiple mansions), and egregious spending during frivolous shopping trips and the post-revolution lives of once-nobility in that same city, marked by extreme poverty. This book has many surprising and delightful details - which French cafes were preferred by which Russian communist faction, what inspired the Chanel N०5 bottle shape, and who were friends with well known American members of the lost generation (like Ernest Hemingweay) who were also settling in Paris at the time. I do wish the book were a bit faster paced, but the pace to information trade off allowed for primary source quotes and vivid description. Tldr; this book was wildly comprehensive, and I recommend it to anyone interested in post-revolution Russian nobility.

Well researched and documented history of the thousands of displaced Russian emigres to France after the Russian Revolution.

Mostly royalty or intelligentsia, those who fled the Bolsheviks were the privileged classes prior to the Revolution. Stripped of their status, property and wealth, they suffered hardships, sorrows and life-threatening experiences trying to establish new lives in foreign countries. For many families, it was the strength of women who saved them. Between the world wars, Russian women established haute couture houses, designing, sewing and modeling Prussian-style fashion. But mostly we read about their failure to thrive, generally due to their inability to accept their new reality as permanent and their efforts to plot a comeback for the "rightful tsar."

Overall, I found this a difficult book to read as this non-fiction documentary doesn't include a storyline to connect the chapters. Still, Helen Rappaport delivers a vivid picture of groups of emigres (royalty, dancers, composers, artists, writers, military officers and other privileged groups), all longing for their homeland and old life. A sad chapter in history, the book raises mixed emotions for a class of people who had (and lost) everything when they fled for their lives.

Thanks to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy. Three stars.

This is a time period I've felt isn't as much explored in history, and I was excited for this book. It delivered, showing us a world of wealthy exiles and all their eccentricities.

I've always enjoyed both Russian and French history, so I was thrilled for the opportunity to check out Helen Rappaport's After the Romanov's, which takes a look at Russian exiles following the Russian Revolution.

This book was a treat. Highly informative with smooth writing. It's definitely a must-have for historians and students of the subject. It reads well and I'd say accessible, even for people not overly familiar with the period.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for inviting me to read this title on NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This book was too dry for me, just the facts, and I could not finish it nor did I want to. I prefer historical fiction.

I give this book a 5 star rating. It is well researched and very informative. It is a lot of information to get through. But it is worth it. I would recommend this book to people interested in reading books about this time period.

After the Romanovs is a look of all the Russian exiles that fled to Paris after the Russian Revolution. I knew that some Russians fled to Paris but not the extent that is covered in this beautifully researched non-fiction. From royalty to artists, Helen Rappaport gives a look into their new lives in Paris during the late 19010s and the 1920s.

Thank you to Netgalley for a chance to read this.

Wow, Helen Rappaport certainly did her due diligence on the historical aspects behind Paris and its history with Russian exiles from the Belle Epoque, Revolution, and War time era. I did not realize how much of Paris' history in that era was influenced by Russian people and their presence were spread throughout different arrondissements to affect goods, services, and food with respect to their culture.

Seeing how many aristocrats are described in the book, it was compelling information to read and then see the differences of those same people and how their experiences changed from the revolution into wartime. I truly enjoy the work that Helen Rappaport does and how well she executes her historical works. I look forward to her next book!

A very dry read. Too much packed into this nonfiction history read. Too many individuals that I felt overwhelmed trying to keep them all straight. I think smaller doses would have been better. I just gave up reading it. If you are a history buff, then this is for you. Very well researched, but I felt like I was back at school. Not my cup of tea, 2.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #AftertheRomanovs #StMartinPress

This was not my type of book. I found it confusing and realized I was not interested in the subject matter at all.

In high school a fellow chorus member told me her heritage was White Russian. Here I am, some fifty-plus years later, finally understanding her family history in the pages of After the Romanovs. I had garnered some idea from books and movies, but had no real appreciation of the traumatic emigration of thousands of Russians, the poverty of their exile, and their heartbreaking longing for their lost homeland and life.

Helen Rappaport begins the story with the Russian obsession with all things French, dating to Peter the Great’s 1717 visit to Paris. She recreates Belle Époque Paris and describes the wealthy Russian nobility who enjoyed Parisian society, both high society and it’s darker underworld. By 1905, when Cossack troops slaughtered protesters calling for better wages and living conditions, it became obvious that, as Grand Duke Paul con Hohenfelsen expressed, “within and without, everything’s crumbling.”

Each chapter concentrates on a specific experience of Russians in Paris, following the lives of specific aristocrats and artists. There is Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes that propelled to fame previously unknown Russian composers like Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Mussorgsky, and dancers like Anna Pavlona and Nijinsky, a chapter I especially enjoyed.

We read about Lenin’s time in Paris, the writers and poets and painters. After the abdication of Nicholas II, the Russian aristocracy saw everything they had disappear, their rank and power, their land and possessions, their very lives at risk. For the first time in generations, they had to work, and at the lowest occupations possible. The alternative was to leave their homeland, making their way to the Crimea or Singapore, often with the clothes on their back and some jewelry they hoped would pay their keep for decades. Perhaps 146,000 left in 1920.

Rappaport paints a vivid picture of the gruesome journey on overcrowded ships, and the dire poverty that awaited them in exile.

Before us darkness and terror. Behind us–horror and hopelessness.Vera Bunin quoted in After the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport

At first, the French government accepted the emigres to replace the population lost during WWI, and perhaps 120,000 settled there. “Paris is full of Russians,” Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1922. The flood of jewelry on the market drove their value down, and the emigres had few skills to fall back on. The men aspired to become taxi drivers. The women took up needlework that was featured in Coco Chanel’s collections, capitalizing on the fad for Russian inspired fashion, working 12 hour days for a barely enough money to feed themselves.

The emigres longed for their homeland and old life, unable to accept their new reality as permanent. The ‘rightful tsar’ organized and plotted a comeback with expectation that Russians would rebel against the Soviet government. When a Russian emigrant assassinated the French president, there was a backlash against the Russians.

Most of the exiled poets, writers, and artists failed to thrive. Those who left for America faired better, and many Jews did leave with the rise of Hitler. It is heartbreaking to read of people’s lonely, cruel aging, the suicides, all hope gone. The poignant story of Mother Maria, who became a nun who organized soup kitchens and housing for the impoverished, ends with her death in Ravensbruck.

I don’t often feel compassion for the rich and powerful, and the White Russians were certainly isolated from the reality of ‘real life’. But what a marvelous study of a whole class and generation faced with the loss of everything they knew.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

After the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport is a beautifully written look into the world of Russian emigres in Paris after the Russian Revolution. Written in a lyric and readable style, Rappaport takes readers on a journey through Paris, both the beautiful and the mundane. Focusing on those who became famous artists, composers, and trendsetters to those whose life outside Russia did not translate beyond obscurity in their new country., Rappaport lends color to a forgotten time in history. After the Romanovs is a well-researched, enjoyable read and worth adding to your library.

A thorough and illuminating look at the Russian exodus to Paris before, during, and after the Russian Revolution.

Before reading this, I was only moderately aware of the number of Russian citizens - aristocrats, artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals alike - who sought refuge in the City of Light at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. It was fascinating to learn how many people fled to what was once a vacation destination for them, a cultural hub of decadence and indulgence, and see it become a place of exile and refuge from persecution instead.

In fact, by 1930, I learned there were over 43,250 Russians living in the twenty Paris arrondissements, with another 9,500 in the other suburbs. That's a staggering number! I was shocked to know there were that many emigres. Clearly this was not something I remember being taught in history class.

It was also gutting to read about the struggles, the cyclical nature of poverty and homesickness that many faced, which resulted in things like feelings of disgrace, alienation, frustration, and sometimes led to suicide. Job opportunities were scarce as well, so the vast majority of emigrants worked in car manufacturing, construction, or industry. Few were able to find work in France that matched the professional expertise they had attained in Russia so they took menial jobs in order to make a living. Men often became taxi drivers, for instance, while women, if they could sew, would work for fashion houses.

There were those who were fortunate enough to find success, however. Bunin, Stravinsky, and Chagall are a few reputable standouts. Ballerinas were rather chic for a time as well, with the Ballet Russes becoming an extremely influential part of Paris' Russian emigre culture. I found myself enthralled by all the ways in which Russian culture rubbed off on Paris, and likewise, how much Parisian culture rubbed off on Russian exiles--especially a generation or two down the line.

It was difficult to keep up with the number of people who were being discussed at times, for some were more obscure or unknown to me, and the layout of their profession/influence/importance wasn't always as clear as I would've liked, but I am happy to have read this book. It was well-researched and enlightening. In addition to that, it helped broaden my understanding of the history surrounding both the pinnacle and the fall of the Romanovs.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I am a big sucker for history, and I love Russian history specifically (I have history phases, I am in a russian one right now, lol.) so this was honestly the perfect non fiction for me. I mostly read fiction so this was definitely an experience. I always wondered what happened to the Romanovs after the 1914 revolution so I really read this with interest. It was very well researched and organized and I think Helen Rappaport style of writing really made me enjoy the read even more.

Helen Rappaport has written several books about the Romanovs, and the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. They are well researched and have been well received. After the Romanovs, her latest, is due March 8th from St Martin's Press. The focus here is on the Russian émigré community in Paris. Many Russians, including members of the royal Romanov clan, fled Russia because of the Revolution. Many of them went to Paris.

Rappaport opens her book by exploring the Russian presence in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Paris had been a “home away from home” for the Russian aristocracy since at least the reign of Peter the Great. By the 1900s it was referred to as the capital of Russia outside of Russia. The countries were also politically aligned (much to the annoyance of Kaiser Wilhelm).

The prewar years were a golden age for Franco-Russian relations and for Russians in France. The Tsar and his family visited to great acclaim in 1896, and several Russian Grand Dukes were frequent visitors and part-time residents. Many of the Russian Dukes and Duchesses maintained second homes in Paris, where they loved to shop and entertain lavishly.

Through the 1900s the French were becoming increasingly interested in Russian arts and literature. The Russian entrepreneur Sergey Diaghilev had great success raising money from the Paris based Russian aristocracy to support bringing Russian art and artists to French audiences. He produced magazines, art exhibits, opera and dance performances (featuring Nijinsky, Pavlova, Stravinsky and others).

The Russians in France lost all this prewar sophistication and extravagance after the 1917 Revolution. With the success of the Bolsheviks and their Red Army, many royal family members fled Russia with little more than the clothes on their backs. They were followed by other refugees and members of the losing White Army. The highest numbers ended up in Paris and Berlin. In Paris the ultimate number is estimated to be upwards of 50,000 people.

With no funds and no passports, the post-revolutionary Russians in Paris struggled. Many held out hope for the fall of the Soviet government well into the 1930s. They tended to focus within their own community. Many were not inclined to assimilate into French society.

Poverty beset many of them. Those who had been Dukes and Princes found themselves on the assembly line in the Renault factory, or driving cabs. Their wives earned meager wages as seamstresses.

Over time, Parisians became less sensitive to the Russian émigré’s plight, and as the Depression set in, began to see them as job poachers.

The book spends most of its time highlighting the postwar years. Readers steeped in the history of the Romanovs and of Russia may find some names familiar, but I suspect many other names will not be. For lovers of history who are not Russophiles, like myself, many of the tales told in the book will involve characters you’ve not heard of before, aside from perhaps Nabokov and Chagall. Some of the tales are interesting. Most, sadly, are depressing.

The sheer volume of names cited and stories told in this well researched book proved a bit of a challenge to me. It was not a "straight-through" reading experience. I found it better to dip into a chapter or two and then walk away for a bit and absorb what I’d read. But I kept coming back and was rewarded with a much better understanding of the fate of the losing side of the Russian Revolution.

If you have read and enjoyed any of Rappaport’s other Russia centered books, you’ll no doubt find this one just as enlightening. For me, this was a Three and a Half Star ⭐⭐⭐🌠 trip into a world I knew next to nothing about beforehand.

It was hard to follow all the different people and events. Hard to keep going and finish, but pushed through

I'm fascinated by Russian history, especially the Romanovs and the fall of the Tsars. This book was packed with information I'd never heard or read before. Maybe a bit dense and erudite, but still very interesting.

Author Helen Rappaport gives us a glimpse of what life was like for the Russians, artistic exiles and refugees, who arrived in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century and reveals how the city of light offered them a chance to reinvent themselves.

I enjoyed the way this book was organized. It was necessary to see the luxury and excess the Russian elite enjoyed in Russia so that we could see what a transition it was for them to become dressmakers, taxi drivers, and menial workers in order to survive. It must have been difficult to balance a love of heritage and all that shaped them with a love of a new country and all it offered them. Those who adapted and lived for the future did well. Those who didn’t, found out the hard way. I also appreciated being reminded that the influence was a two-way street; the Parisian artists were influenced by the Russian literature, ballet and opera while the Russians were influenced by the French fashion, food, and joie de vivre existence.

I had difficulty in keeping up with the vast number of people discussed and was wondering if it might have been easier to flip to the cast of characters list had I had a paper copy as opposed to my ebook.

This intriguing and extremely well-researched book is a must have for all who love following the Romanovs and with those with knowledge of the artists of the Belle Époque as well as the Russian Revolution and the civil war.

I was gifted this advance copy by Helen Rappaport, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

My Interest

First, thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.


I started reading on the Romanov's with Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie in 1977. It's a given that I'll at least skim just about any book with their name in it. Plus, this one was a book I agreed to review on Netgalley and forgot about, so I needed to get that done.

The Story

There are two major stories here--what happened to some of the surviving Romanovs after Yekaterinburg and what happened to other, mostly aristocratic or otherwise high-ranking Russians who escaped Russia after the Bolsheviks came to power, the Civil War started, etc. The term "White Russians," or those who were either pro-Tzar or just anti-Communist, is a generic term for most of them. It refers to the side they were on in the Civil War, not to race or ethnicity. The other story is various writers, dancers, artists and others in Paris at the time. Hemingway even gets a mention.

My Thoughts

Of all the author's work, this to me is her weakest. Throwing names around about artists, then discussing Russian authors of the period who are barely known today just wasn't that interesting to me. I DID however, LOVE reading how several aristocrats came to earn their living--especially the women and how various Romanovs ended up. I also found it fascinating that parts of regiments stayed together in exile, working together in French car factories! I also found it very interesting to see how the former aristocracy came to terms with their reduced circumstances. Attitude is everything and some just plain got on with life. I admire that. To me, this was the story--forget Hemingway and a few others. The artist or writer stories lack the sureness and polish of her Romanov chapters. Her gift is in writing social history as it relates to the Imperial Family.

My Verdict
3.5

I received After the Romanovs as an ARC through Netgalley. Before reading this book I had a very limited knowledge of the Romanovs and no idea about large amount of emigration to Paris from Russia before and after the rise of Lenin and death of the last Czar. I cannot imagine the amount of time and research Helen Rappaport put into writing this book. While there are a lot people that are written about from before WWI to WWII, reading it in chunks made it seem less overwhelming. To flee the country to love to escape prosecution and in some cases death, with just jewels and some belongings and no idea how you'd make a living had to be a harrowing journey for many. Paris became a haven for many Russian aristocrats who then had to reinvent themselves from nobility to dress makers, factory workers, taxi drivers, and many other professions they never thought they would be pursuing.