Helen Rappaport

Draws on personal writings and private sources to illuminate the daily lives of the four Russian Grand Duchesses from their own perspectives, revealing their awareness of family turmoil and the approach of the Russian Revolution.

The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

The Romanov Sisters

In this international bestseller investigating the murder of the Russian Imperial Family, Helen Rappaport embarks on a quest to uncover the various plots and plans to save them, why they failed, and who was responsible. The murder of the Romanov family in July 1918 horrified the world, and its aftershocks still reverberate today. In Putin's autocratic Russia, the Revolution itself is considered a crime, and its anniversary was largely ignored. In stark contrast, the centenary of the massacre of the Imperial Family was commemorated in 2018 by a huge ceremony attended by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. While the murders themselves have received major attention, what has never been investigated in detail are the various plots and plans behind the scenes to save the family—on the part of their royal relatives, other governments, and Russian monarchists loyal to the Tsar. Rappaport refutes the claim that the fault lies entirely with King George V, as has been the traditional claim for the last century. The responsibility for failing the Romanovs must be equally shared. The question of asylum for the Tsar and his family was an extremely complicated issue that presented enormous political, logistical and geographical challenges at a time when Europe was still at war. Like a modern day detective, Helen Rappaport draws on new and never-before-seen sources from archives in the US, Russia, Spain and the UK, creating a powerful account of near misses and close calls with a heartbreaking conclusion. With its up-to-the-minute research, The Race to Save the Romanovs is sure to replace outdated classics as the final word on the fate of the Romanovs.

The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family

The Race to Save the Romanovs

Rappaport, an expert in the field of Russian history, brings you the riveting day-by-day account of the last fourteen days of the Russian Imperial family, in this first of two books about the Romanovs. Her second book The Romanov Sisters, offering a never-before-seen glimpse at the lives of the Tsar's beautiful daughters and a celebration of their unique stories, will be published in 2014. The brutal murder of the Russian Imperial family on the night of July 16-17, 1918 has long been a defining moment in world history. The Last Days of the Romanovs reveals in exceptional detail how the conspiracy to kill them unfolded. In the vivid style of a TV documentary, Helen Rappaport reveals both the atmosphere inside the family's claustrophobic prison and the political maneuverings of those who wished to save--or destroy--them. With the watching world and European monarchies proving incapable of saving the Romanovs, the narrative brings this tragic story to life in a compellingly new and dramatic way, culminating in a bloody night of horror in a cramped basement room.

Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

The Last Days of the Romanovs

From Helen Rappaport, the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters comes After the Romanovs, the story of the Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals who sought freedom and refuge in the City of Light...

Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War

After the Romanovs

On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only seventeen. Together with their parents and their thirteen-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias.In Four Sisters acclaimed biographer Helen Rappaport offers readers the most authoritative account yet of the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Drawing on their own letters and diaries, 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 readable, meticulously researched and deeply moving, Four Sisters gives these young women a voice, and allows their story to resonate for readers almost a century after their death.

The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses

Four Sisters

The official companion to ITV’s hotly anticipated new drama, The Victoria Letters delves into the private writings of the young Queen Victoria, painting a vivid picture of the personal life of one of England’s greatest monarchs.

The Victoria Letters: The official companion to the ITV Victoria series

The Victoria Letters

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters, Caught in the Revolution is Helen Rappaport's masterful telling of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold. Between the first revolution in February 1917 and Lenin’s Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St Petersburg) was in turmoil – felt nowhere more keenly than on the fashionable Nevsky Prospekt. There, the foreign visitors who filled hotels, clubs, offices and embassies were acutely aware of the chaos breaking out on their doorsteps and beneath their windows. Among this disparate group were journalists, diplomats, businessmen, bankers, governesses, volunteer nurses and expatriate socialites. Many kept diaries and wrote letters home: from an English nurse who had already survived the sinking of the Titanic; to the black valet of the US Ambassador, far from his native Deep South; to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who had come to Petrograd to inspect the indomitable Women’s Death Battalion led by Maria Bochkareva. Helen Rappaport draws upon this rich trove of material, much of it previously unpublished, to carry us right up to the action – to see, feel and hear the Revolution as it happened to an assortment of individuals who suddenly felt themselves trapped in a "red madhouse."

Witnesses to the Fall of Imperial Russia

Caught in the Revolution

As she did in her critically acclaimed The Last Days of the Romanovs, Helen Rappaport brings a compelling documentary feel to the story of this royal marriage and of the queen's obsessive love for her husband - a story that began as fairy tale and ended in tragedy. After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the queen and her nation were plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his twenty year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme, that its like would not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later. Drawing on many letters, diaries and memoirs from the Royal Archives and other neglected sources, as well as the newspapers of the day, Rappaport offers a new perspective on this compelling historical psychodrama--the crucial final months of the prince's life and the first long, dark ten years of the Queen's retreat from public view. She draws a portrait of a queen obsessed with her living husband and - after his death - with his enduring place in history. Magnificent Obsession will also throw new light on the true nature of the prince's chronic physical condition, overturning for good the 150-year old myth that he died of typhoid fever.

Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy

A Magnificent Obsession

Victoria Letters

Foreword by Daisy Goodwin The official companion to ITV’s hotly anticipated new drama, Victoria delves into the private writings of the young Queen Victoria, painting a vivid picture of the personal life of one of England’s greatest monarchs. From the producers of Poldark and Endeavour, ITV’s Victoria follows the early years of the young queen’s reign, based closely on Victoria’s own letters and journals. Now explore this extensive collection in greater depth, and discover who Victoria really was behind her upright public persona. At only eighteen years old, Victoria ascended the throne as a rebellious teenager and gradually grew to become one of the most memorable, unshakeable and powerful women in history. The extensive writings she left behind document this personal journey and show how she triumphed over scandal and corruption. Written by author and Victoria historical consultant, Helen Rappaport, and including a foreword by Daisy Goodwin—acclaimed novelist and scriptwriter of the series—Victoria details the history behind the show. Revealing Victoria’s own thoughts about the love interests, family dramas and court scandals during her early reign, it also delves into the running of the royal household, the upstairs-downstairs relationships, and what it was like to live in Victorian England. Full of beautiful photography from the series and genuine imagery from the era, Victoria takes you behind the palace doors and discover the girl behind the queen.

The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen

Victoria

Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - a World on the Edge

Shortlisted for the HWA Sharpe Books Non-Fiction Crown Award A work of investigative history that will completely change the way in which we see the Romanov story. Finally, here is the truth about the secret plans to rescue Russia's last imperial family. On 17 July 1918, the whole of the Russian Imperial Family was murdered. There were no miraculous escapes. The former Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their children - Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey - were all tragically gunned down in a blaze of bullets. Historian Helen Rappaport sets out to uncover why the Romanovs' European royal relatives and the Allied governments failed to save them. It was not, ever, a simple case of one British King's loss of nerve. In this race against time, many other nations and individuals were facing political and personal challenges of the highest order. In this incredible detective story, Rappaport draws on an unprecedented range of unseen sources, tracking down missing documents, destroyed papers and covert plots to liberate the family by land, sea and even sky. Through countless twists and turns, this revelatory work unpicks many false claims and conspiracies, revealing the fiercest loyalty, bitter rivalries and devastating betrayals as the Romanovs, imprisoned, awaited their fate. A remarkable new work of history from Helen Rappaport, author of Ekaterinburg- The Last Days of the Romanovs.

The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family

All children learn at school the story of Florence Nightingale – the Lady with the Lamp – who heroically tended the sick during the Crimean War. But she was not the only woman in the Crimea. It is usually assumed that women did not become involved in international conflict until the First World War. But in No Place For Ladies, respected historian Helen Rappaport proves otherwise: numerous women were actively involved in the Crimean in a variety of ways. Four wives would be chosen to accompany each regiment of 100 men, enduring the vermin-ridden troop ships and then left to fend for themselves in the barren Crimean terrain, before combing the battlefields in search of their men. Yet the suffering of the soldiers’ wives left behind was more terrible. At home, vast numbers of women – including Queen Victoria herself – knitted socks to cheer the soldiers stranded in freezing Sevastopol. Florence Nightingale had a band of unruly, often hard-drinking orderlies to control. Rejected by Nightingale, maverick black nurse Mary Seacole set up her own dispensary in the Crimea. And then there were the lady battlefield tourists, watching engagements from a safe distance in between picnics and yacht trips. This rich, colourful and fascinating picture of very different women at war, based on hundreds of rare accounts, is now available in B-format paperback.Helen Rappaport is a historian and author of An Encyclopaedia of Women and Social Reformers and Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion. She has presented historical documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC Woman’s Hour.

The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War

No Place for Ladies

On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only seventeen. Together with their parents and their thirteen-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias. In Four Sisters acclaimed biographer Helen Rappaport offers readers the most authoritative account yet of the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Drawing on their own letters and diaries, 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 readable, meticulously researched and deeply moving, Four Sisters gives these young women a voice, and allows their story to resonate for readers almost a century after their death.

Four Sisters:The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses

Lenin in exile

Conspirator

La historia, tan cautivadora como trágica, de Olga, Tatiana, María y Anastasia, hijas del último zar y las cuatro princesas más glamourosas de Europa. Cuatro preciosas jóvenes, tal vez las más admiradas y fotografiadas de la realeza de principios del siglo XX, objeto de incesantes rumores, nacidas en un mundo de glamour y opulencia, crecieron ajenas a su destino entre juegos, coqueteos con oficiales del ejército y mascotas... hasta la Primera Guerra Mundial y la Revolución. Pero ¿quiénes eran realmente, más allá de su imagen edulcorada de niñas bonitas con vestidos blancos y grandes sombreros? ¿Cuáles eran sus esperanzas personales, sus sueños y aspiraciones y cómo se relacionaban entre sí y con sus padres? ¿Cómo era su vida como parte de la familia imperial? Helen Rappaport coloca a las cuatro hermanas en el centro del escenario y, basándose en sus cartas, diarios y otras fuentes primarias hasta ahora no examinadas, reconstruye la fascinante personalidad de cada una de ellas, pero al mismo tiempo traza un impresionante retrato familiar y de la Rusia prerrevolucionaria. El 17 de julio de 1918, bajaron al sótano de una casa en Ekaterinburg. La mayor tenía veintidós años, la más joven tan solo diecisiete. Junto con sus padres y su hermano de trece años de edad, fueron brutalmente asesinadas. Su delito: ser las hijas del último zar. La crítica ha dicho... «Maravillosamente escrito. Una fascinante, profunda y comprehensiva investigación de las duquesas imperiales.» Daily Express «Desgarrador y muy bien escrito. El sensible retrato que hace Rappaport de las desafortunadas hermanas crea en el lector verdadero apego hacia cada una de ellas.» Mail on Sunday «Evocador y espléndidamente investigado y relatado, esto es historia narrativa en su máxima expresión.» Bookseller «Una reconstrucción amena y bien documentada de los últimos díasde las hijas del zar Nicholas.» Telva «Los lectores se verán arrastrados por una narración tranquila pero elocuente mientras la autora arroja nueva luz sobre la vida de las cuatro hijas.» Publishers Weekly «Las hermanas Romanov recrea de manera sobresaliente la claustrofóbica atmósfera provocada por el amor maternal de Alejandra. Mediante unos conocimientos sólidos, un gran dominio de las fuentes primarias y grandes dosis de entusiasmo por el tema, ofrece un estudio consistente y demuestra con rotundidad la fuerza de los lazos familiares.» The Telegraph «Rappaport es una convincente biógrafa, excelente a la hora de sacar a la luz la humanidad de la historia, de ofrecer un fresco del pasado con todo su dramático detalle sin dejar de colocar a las personas en el primer plano de sus penetrantes retratos.» Lancashire Evening Post

Las hermanas Romanov

A négy nővér

Roger Watson

At the heart of Capturing the Light, there lies a small scrap of purple-tinged paper, over 170 years old and about the size of a postage stamp. On it you can just make out a tiny, ghostly image -- an image so small and perfect that 'it might be supposed to be the work of some Lilliputian artist'; the world's first photographic negative. This captivating book traces the true story of two very different men in the 1830s, both striving to solve one of the world's oldest problems: how to capture an image, and keep it for ever. On the one hand there is Henry Fox Talbot, a quiet, solitary gentleman-amateur scientist, tinkering away on his estate in the English countryside; on the other, Louis Daguerre: a flamboyant, charismatic French scenery-painter, showman and entrepreneur in search of fame and fortune. Both men invented methods of photography that would enable ordinary people, for the first time in history, to illustrate their own lives and leave something behind of their passing. Photography would transform art, the documentation of both war and peace, and become so natural and widespread that now, each of us carries a camera everywhere with us, and takes this most magical of processes for granted. Only one question remains: which man got there first?

Helen Rappaport

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