Andrei Maylunas

Advantages: Totally factual
Disadvantages: You already know the ending

...No matter what history tells us about revolutions and civil unrest, it rarely gets to be so graphically and heartbreakingly portrayed. Through the private diaries and letters of the Romanov family, colleagues and friends you begin to walk hand in hand with them to their tragic end. It's appalling enough to already know that they die, but to read about why and how is chilling to the bone. The book itself has been sublimely edited by Sergei Mironenko and Andrei Maylunas, and if their goal was to produce a book that respected the memories of those involved while explaining the awful predicament they were placed in, then this achieves it and much, much more. Totally factual, fascinating, absorbing and sometimes shocking, we see the start of the great romance between Alexandra and Nicholas before their marriage. They corresponded daily... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Informative,well laid out,a new angle on well-known events
Disadvantages: A huge book - takes a while to get through it.

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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A most compelling read....a 'cant put it down' type book.
Disadvantages: None....other than it's too heavy to read in bed.

...Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece returns the reader to a Russia that is long forgotten, a time of Princes and Aristocracy. The love story of Natasha and her Prince, Andrei, is set against Napoleon's invasion of Russia. We are transported back to the Russia of the early 1800, of sparkling balls and country dachas, to the bloody battlefields. We follow Natasha, as she grows from an infatuated girl, into a strong woman. Tolstoy's moving portrait of Napoleon's frozen army's winter march, is so moving, beaten, more by the merciless Russian weather than the Tsar's forces. A superbly written story and once I got to know the characters, with their long, Russia names, I literally, could not put it down. A true classic in every sense.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful