Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses
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Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses
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Narrated by:
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Karen Cass
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By:
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Helen Rappaport
About this listen
Award-winning and critically acclaimed historian Helen Rappaport turns to the tragic story of the daughters of the last Tsar of all the Russias, slaughtered with their parents at Ekaterinburg. On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down 23 steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was 22, the youngest only 17. Together with their parents and their 13-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias. Much has been written about Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their tragic fate, as it has about the Russian Revolutions of 1917, but little attention has been paid to the Romanov princesses, who - perhaps inevitably - have been seen as minor players in the drama.
In Four Sisters, however, acclaimed biographer Helen Rappaport puts them centre stage and offers listeners the most authoritative account yet of the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Drawing on their own letters and diaries and other hitherto unexamined primary sources, she paints a vivid picture of their lives in the dying days of the Romanov dynasty. 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 haeomophiliac brother, and, latterly, the trauma of the revolution and its terrible consequences.
Compellingly listenable, meticulously researched, and deeply moving, Four Sisters gives these young women a voice, and allows their story to resonate for listeners almost a century after their death.
©2014 Helen Rappaport (P)2014 Macmillan Publishers, Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DancingGnome
- 01-12-15
Fascinating history of the Romanov sisters
Would you listen to Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses again? Why?
I will certainly be listening to this audiobook again.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses?
Hearing how the sisters were at their happiest when holidaying on their yacht, The Standart, and learning about the close-knot family bonds was very touching.
What does Karen Cass bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Karen Cass's narration brings the girls' letters to life, as well as those of their mother, father, brother and associates.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Four extraordinary sisters. One extraordinary family.
Any additional comments?
A fascinating insight into the lives of the Romanovs that looks at them as individuals, as opposed to solely being tragic victims.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julie
- 15-01-23
Excellent listening
I enjoyed this book in the car while travelling excellent if you are fascinated by the Romanov family.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Miss Burlesque
- 07-09-21
Best book on the romanov sisters
I love this book and having listening to it for years as it was up on YouTube for a while but the narrator was different, she was a native Russian but with not too strong an accent so you could still understand everything ( I think maybe this was the audiobook for the American market) so I was disappointed when I listen to the sample and it was a different narrator but didn't stop me buying the book as Helen Rappaport has always produced really engaging and emotional books on the romanovs.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Michael McCreery
- 20-01-19
What a terrible waste of four smashing young lives
For anyone looking to learn about and understand what happened to the Romanov family this is a must. It is beautifully written, very comprehensive and full of anecdotes from people who knew the family and from the family themselves. However the thing which has really struck me is that whilst it is clear that the Tsarist regime had run its course and needed to be modernised in some way. The murder of the sisters in particular was such a waste as I really feel that had they lived, they could have contributed so much towards the modernisation of Russia. Such a shame that as children they weren't more visible to the populace as this might have helped to save their lives.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Countess_Dracul
- 10-12-15
fantastic book, not fiction but as easy to listen
very easy to listen to book, il be looking for more by both the author and the narrator
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jane Haywood
- 03-12-20
An interesting and incredibly sad account of four very different sisters
I found this book utterly compelling. So often these 4 girls have been overshadowed by their parents and brother. This books really brings their different personalities to life. The more I got to know them the sadder I felt about the inevitable conclusion. I think this is the best historical biography I have ever read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- flowertoes
- 19-04-19
Heartbreaking.
If anyone thought Communism was or is a good idea,should read or listen to this...xxx...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Vasilisa Agapova
- 14-09-19
I lived with the Romanovs and I died with them
It is an excellent book! So detailed and gives you the ehole picture. You feels the worries and happiness together with the Romanovs. An excellent story writing accompanied with description of their lives and their feelings taken from letters and diaries.
Though the reader had a somewhat strange intonation when she was reading the quotes from diaries or letter. I found then a little bit sexist. The way she read made me feel like women sounded like they are overreacting and hysterical, including Queen Victoria, where as men sounded quite bold and sharp. Found it a bit annoying some times, some time it was funny.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- A. J. Taylor
- 14-08-22
Lost Lives, Never Forgotten
After reading the excellent and extremely poignant Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport I simply had to move onto Four Sisters. This book acts as a prequel, the lives of the Romanov family up until those fateful events in July 1917. The focus, as the title suggests is on the four Grand Duchesses, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, but it essentially a look into the private lives of all the family.
It gives everything you would expect, when they were born, what was going on in Russia, how it was perceived, how the family interacted with each other and those around them, what they like to do for fun, their personalities and love interests. But the shame being, these young and sheltered girls lives were lost, cut short and stolen by angry and frustrated men.
The book reads well and is a great length for the subject matter and is essential reading for understanding Russia. They were a huge part of it, then as they are now. They should not be forgotten and serve as a reminder of the horrors of war and the Russian Revolution. Some may say that, the proletariat, peasant or lower classes suffered too. This is covered in this and other books, but this is a flaccid point and misses the point. They were part of a national institution that was washed away with the revolution. Everyone should be against the murder of innocent children. I raise my glass in memory.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- NICOLE
- 21-03-16
Rich in personal details but little context
I found this story poignant and moving. I couldn't help but be sympathetic to the 4 sisters and the last imperial family as a people who seemed very loving and devoted to one another.
I did miss getting a wider context on how the Tsar came to be the last of his kind; reading Tolstoy has given me a better sense of the Russian ruling classes. However the author's account is rich in detail and gathered from much 1st hand accounts and as such is fascinating when compared to the lives of monarchies in democracies in modern times. o really enjoyed meeting the 5 different characters and especially the 4 doomed sisters.
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1 person found this helpful