The Tsarina's Daughter

This post first published June 29, 2012.

Author: Carolly Erickson
First Published: September 2008
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
352 pages (paperback)
 
This is the third Erickson book I’ve read now, and I’ve come to a realization: if you want historical fiction that is also historically accurate, you probably won’t like Erickson’s works. But if you don’t mind authors taking some liberties with history, then you’ll probably enjoy Erickson’s novels. I fall in the latter group — I don’t mind authors making things up (though I do enjoy historical accuracy as well). And there are a lot of made up events and characters in The Tsarina’s Daughter.

In this book, the Grand Duchess Tatiana actually survived the assassination of her family and is living in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1989. She has decided to tell the story of her family during the Russian Revolution: how her father the Tsar ran the country, how her mother dealt with her “delusions” and obsession with that “healer”, Rasputin, and how she fell in and out of love over the years until she found the right man for her.

I thought it was really interested how Erickson decided to use Tatiana, the second eldest daughter of the Tsar and Tsarina, as her main character, as most novels love romanticizing Anastasia instead. I actually have never really read anything dealing with last Tsar and his family that didn’t have Anastasia as the main character, so this was a different experience indeed. I do not know that much about Tatiana Romanov, certainly not to the extent that I know Anastasia (I had an Anastasia phase when I was in middle school; I adored the mystery surrounding the missing last duchess and wanted to know everything I could about her), but I’m certain a majority of this novel is made up, especially her romances.

However, as I said before, I don’t mind historical fiction that actually puts some real fiction in it, and I thought the story was quite well done. It was interesting, it had my attention and once I started reading, I was wrapped in the story. I actually quite enjoyed the made-up romances of Tatiana. She was a teenager at the time, after all, so I thought it plausible that she had a crush or two. However, other than the romances, I found Tatiana to be a bit of a passive character. I felt like the story was really about the Russian Revolution, just seen through Tatiana’s eyes. Even though Tatiana was the main character though, I thought the most interesting characters were her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, who were portrayed as major players in the Revolution. We see, through Tatiana’s eyes, how her parents contributed to the decline of their family, the general lack of confidence the Russian people felt towards the monarchy, and the Russian Revolution. I would love to read a novel about those two rulers, actually! (Unfortunately, the historical royalty fiction market is still quite saturated with Tudor novels, so I might be in for a long wait).

Since the author had already chosen to go down the historically fiction route (as opposed to historically accurate), I would have loved if there was a short chapter on how Tatiana’s life had been after she moved to Canada. It would have been a nice way to wrap up the story, as opposed to what I feel was a rather blunt ending, that basically said ‘I managed to escape and move to Canada, the end’ (an exaggeration, but you know what I mean). Regardless, I enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to people who don’t mind large doses of fiction in their historical novels.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rival to the Queen

This post first published June 7, 2012.

Author: Carolly Erickson
First Published: September 2010
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
320 pages (hardcover)
 
Continuing my recent obsession with historical royalty fiction, I just finished reading Rival to the Queen, which is Erickson’s story about Lettie Knollys, Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin. As I mentioned in a previous review, I really am not very knowledgeable about British or European history of this time period (most of my historical knowledge lies with Ancient Rome) so I didn’t really know who Lettie was or what her rivalry with the Queen was. I read the story not really knowing what was fact or fiction, but tried to just enjoy the ride.

This story details the life of Lettie Knollys, from her time as a girl to when she becomes 96 years old. Lettie falls in love with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, but knows her feelings cannot be returned, for Queen Elizabeth I, Lettie’s cousin, is quite fond of Robert Dudley and many whisper that he may become King Robert one day. Robert himself is an ambitious man, said to have killed his own wife in order to be with Elizabeth. When Robert’s patience with Elizabeth runs out, he marries Lettie in secret, which infuriates the Queen.

I thought the book started off wonderfully. I was drawn into the story immediately and I like Lettie as the first person narrator, she’s easy to like and isn’t annoying, which is pretty important to me whenever I read first person novels. I thought the characters were well done in that they stayed consistent and were memorable. I have no idea if they are true to their historical counterparts, but the way they were written as characters in a novel were great (though I really ought to read another Queen Elizabeth I novel by someone other than Erickson, since she always portrays this Queen as a bit of a psycho, and I’d like to read another interpretation of her to see if it’s a common thing or what. Not that I mind Queen Elizabeth being a psycho, she’s quite a character haha). I also enjoyed the story as a whole, though not as much as I would have liked.

The actual plot is fine, in my opinion, filled with drama and scandals and gossip. However, the pacing was rather undesirable. It moved at a strange, choppy speed: sometimes fast and sometimes very slow. The way the chapters were divided were sometimes strange as well. For example, there was one chapter where Lettie and her brother see a drowning woman. Chapter ends, and the next one that begins was literally one page long and more or less said they saved her and discovered she was Marianna. I don’t understand why those few paragraphs couldn’t have been tacked onto the previous chapter; why did they need to have their own chapter? It was hardly a cliffhanger.

Another part of the novel that had a pretty bad transition from chapter to chapter was when Lettie married Dudley. The story was reaching an intense moment where Dudley and the Queen were arguing about why she won’t marry him and all of a sudden, the chapter ends and the next one begins with Lettie saying she married Dudley. What?! I really felt like I was gypped of a scene, like something was missing there. There should have been some sort of Dudley proposal scene, or something where Dudley talks with Lettie after his fight with the Queen. It made it look like Dudley said, “Well, fine! If you won’t marry me, I’ll marry Lettie!” and I know there is supposed to be more to it than that. I think that’s a key thing that was missing — the passionate love between Lettie and Dudley. It was just words on paper to me, I couldn’t feel it.

So, I feel this book has equal parts pros and cons. It definitely could be better, but I don’t think it’s as terrible as some other readers say.

My Rating: 2.5/5

The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots

This post first published June 2, 2012.

Author: Carolly Erickson
First Published: August 2009
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
309 pages
 
I’ve always had an interest in historical royalty, and lately I have been filling my bookshelves with historical fiction novels that deal with queens and princesses and such (mostly more Erickson works, and Philippa Gregory as well). I actually did not really know much about Mary, Queen of Scots, prior to reading this book. I have come to really fall in love with her tragic tale. Perhaps it was the way it was portrayed in this book, but I really sympathized for Mary and felt bad that she was the victim of so much unfortunate luck.

If you know a little about Queen Mary’s real life, then the plot of this story shouldn’t be too surprising to you, though there are, of course, some creative liberties taken and some completely fictional elements added to it (elements that I did not know never occurred to the real Mary until I looked up the facts later). Mary became Queen of Scotland at a mere six days old. She was married to King Francis of France when she was fifteen (and he, younger) but he died shortly. Unfamiliar with Scottish politics, Mary returned to Scotland eager to rule her realm, but due to her upbringing in France and her religion that clashes with those of her people, she finds herself facing many obstacles. She finds she must flee Scotland and looks for safety in England, with her cousin Queen Elizabeth. However, she is not safe even there as the Queen fears Mary will take her throne — and indeed, it is said Mary has a better claim to the English throne than Elizabeth — and so Mary is imprisoned for years until she manages to escape and attempts to fight for her right as a Queen.

Like I mentioned earlier, I knew pretty much nothing about Queen Mary going into this book, and I’m delighted that it has sparked not only a genuine interest in the life of Queen Mary and all the mysteries, scandals and modern day theories that go along with her, but also a renewed interest in history itself. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I liked this portrayal of Queen Mary, a kind girl/woman who has been Queen all her life and does not want to settle for less. I am aware that there are some completely made up parts to the story that I suppose a historical purist will frown upon, but I’m the type of person who isn’t too concerned about factual stuff in this genre of books (I mean, that’s why it’s fiction!) and I personally enjoyed it, though I do admit some parts were a little hard to believe (for example, one of her fictional escapes from imprisonment was done a little easily, among other events. Another thing that I admit bugged me a little was the inclusion of her fictional daughter, who never existed in real life. That’s kind of a big thing to make up, and it had little impact on the story in the end, so it felt kind of pointless).

On that topic, some parts of Mary’s personality did irk me. I wasn’t sure if it was just an inconsistent character, or some sort of naivety on her part, but it was really bizarre to me how she sought protection from her cousin Queen Elizabeth, yet at the same time, would openly say to others that she is the rightful Queen to the English throne and that Elizabeth really isn’t a Queen at all. I mean … that’s kind of a dumb thing to say to about the person you wish to protect you, right? However, I suppose it just goes to show how sure of her rights as a queen she is, though I still think it’s foolish to proclaim yourself the rightful ruler of a throne whose current ruler you seek help from, while you are in their country as well.

Regardless if you’re into historical fiction or not, I think this book is an enjoyable and fun read. Mary’s life already lends itself to a fascinating story, and easily lures readers into wanting to discover more about this tragic queen.

My Rating: 3.5/5