Tsarina; a sweeping, sensual historic portrayal

There is nothing better than good historic fiction to sweep you away from everything that’s happening in the current world and immerse you. Tsarina, the debut novel from Ellen Alpsten did just that for me; vividly portraying the extraordinary life of Catherine I of Russia.

Let me point out, I am not talking about Catherine the Great; rather Catherine I was Empress of Russia over 50 years before Catherine the Great. One of the factors that makes the life of Catherine I so extraordinary is that she was born illegitimate, was a common serf and sold by her family into household labour at the age of 15. Yet what is so astounding is that her life has never been told – until now. And crikey – what a life it was.

Born Marta, her lover Peter the Great changed her name to Catherine. She bore him 13 children and after being his mistress for many years, she eventually became his second wife and then Empress of Russia .

In a cruel world where women were sold and passed around as sexual toys for men, Marta fights for respect and compassion; not just for herself but also for other women. I loved Marta for this as she was prepared to sacrifice all she held dear to ensure she and her friends were respected by the men they loved.

Many refer to Marta/Catherine’s story as a Cinderella story, but in my view this description is doing her a misjustice. Marta is a survivor with great determination and spirit. She is also very beautiful but I think the reason why the Tsar loved Marta above all his other women was because of her empathy, sense of humour and integrity. When she firsts meets Peter he is at his most vulnerable, yet she ignores that he is the Great Tsar or Russia and uses her wit and compassion to help him.

There are aspects of this book which I have to admit I found a tad shocking, especially the brutality, the treatment of women and the portrayal of Peter’s court. Believe me, I’m no prude, but crikey, they liked to party fuelled by drink and sex. I tell you, if your missing your Game of Thrones fix, read this book! 😉
https://noveldelights.com/2020/05/17/tsarina-a-sweeping-sensual-historic-portrayal/
This is a chunky novel rich in historic detail. For me I found this fascinating, especially as I love history and all the political intrigue that comes with it. It is so evident that Ellen Alpsten is passionate about vividly portraying Catherine as the powerful, intelligent and empathetic woman she was. It is clear from Alpsten’s writing that Catherine greatly influenced Peter and shaped history.

Tsarina is the ideal lockdown read as it will take you away from all the horrible things happening in the world today. It was only published a few days ago so you can read it now. 🙂

As literary genres go, historical fiction was my first love. This one is up there with the best.

Even in my early school days, I was in trouble with my history teacher for questioning the dry facts that he presented to us. He happened to also be our current affairs teacher and, in those classes, he hammered home that we should verify and validate and cross-check the sources. When it came to history lessons, we were expected to believe everything that the historians had written without question. When I pointed out the conflict, his cane swished painfully across my hands or backside.

My view was that the historical fiction that I read COULD be very close to the truth and it certainly brought history to life much more than his crusty books. Again, the cane was his answer.

I haven’t changed!

Amongst my favourites are Rosemary Sutcliff, Nigel Tranter, John Prebble, Conn Iggulden and George MacDonald Fraser.

Ellen Alpsten, with her debut novel is definitely added to my list.

Tsarina is narrated in the voice of an illiterate peasant girl from the village of Livonia in what is now Latvia. She is sold into servitude by her father and goes through periods of terrible abuse throughout her lifetime, even after she has found the favour of the Tsar, Peter the Great. He renames her, Catherine Alexeyevna.

There are many interesting characters in this book, not least the great Russian General Shermetev who gives her advice and guidance that steers her through the rest of her precarious life. Her calculated cunning, combined with huge determination to be her own woman and a great deal of luck see her through many very dangerous situation.

Se soon realises who she can trust and who she cannot and that it is often better to be ruthless in your dealings with those around you than to fall the victim of their ruthlessness. Everyone in that world, in that time, is trampling on those around them to gain their own advantage. Woe betide those who dare to cross either the Tsar or the Tsarina.

The time-linear narrative is occasionally interrupted with a flash forward into the time around the death of Tsar Peter. As you read, you can feel Catherine’s fear as she comes to terms with the fate that could befall her if she fails to gain the support of those who will hold her up as Empress of Russia.

I really enjoyed riding the emotional roller-coaster with Marta/Catherine as she told me her life story. This is tremendous historical fiction and I recommend it to all and I have no hesitation in awarding five well-deserved stars.

Tsarina was a fascinating, enthralling historical novel which really brings Russian history to life.

Firstly Catherine was truly an amazing woman. The fact she managed to get to such a high position when she was born a peasant, couldn’t read or write and was a woman in a male dominated society was truly remarkable. I found I admired her more as the book went on and I was firmly on her side, hoping that she succeeded.

The author has clearly done a lot of research into this period and all the little details about life back then helped bring the period to life. I knew nothing about this period so greedily absorbed everything I could. As the blurb says Catherine has mainly be forgotten from history which is really sad, and not much is known about her early life so the author has had to use some imagination at times which I found completely enthralling. Peter was definitely an interesting character who did much for modernising Russia. He was definitely a cruel man and some of his actions were very brutal which made for uncomfortable reading sometimes. One particular scene made me feel slightly sick so just be warned it’s quite graphic at times.

Overall I thought this was a fast paced, addictive read which I flew through in a few days. I found myself so completely emersed in the world she’d created that I found myself confused when I had to come back into the present. The author definitely knows how to make history interesting and I thought this book was brilliantly written and just draws the reader into the story. I will definitely be looking out for this author in the future.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bloomsbury publishers for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

Russian history has always fascinated me so I was dying to read Tsarina as soon as I heard about it. It tells the story of Catherine I of Russia, the second wife of Peter the Great, and not to be confused with Catherine the Great. Her story is one of those that is so extraordinary, it truly reinforces the saying ‘truth is stranger than fiction’. Tsarina is a fictionalised version of this woman’s life but as far as I can tell it appears to be pretty accurate, only inventing where the history is genuinely too murky to establish the facts. Catherine I began her life as Marta, a serf in the baltic region and through a series of struggles, skilful machinations and sheer willpower rose to become the wife of one of Russia’s most famously mercurial rulers and even ruled over Russia herself for a short period. It is, to put it simply, one heck of a story.

I do have to say straight off that Tsarina is not for the faint-hearted. There is a great deal of brutality and violence so please do take that into account if you have any triggers. Marta led a life full of drama and often, sadly, pain. By the time I had read about one third of Tsarina, I felt like she had already lived ten lives. She goes through a lot and is victimised frequently. However, saying that, Marta seldom actually feels like a victim. No matter how horrific the situation, she manages to get through it with an incredibly admirable fortitude and pragmatism. Throughout her story she truly experiences life right at the bottom, in the depths of poverty and life at the very top with the ostentatious wealth that comes with being royalty. She manages to keep her wit, courage and perceptiveness which makes her more than a match for people around her who have had the benefit of a full education in a way Marta never did. I loved that about her and it makes her easy to root for throughout the whole book.

Marta’s relationship with Peter the Great is the central one in Tsarina. Alpsten brings the intimidating historical figure to life in a way that feels authentic. He is passionate, determined and lives with an almost singular purpose of making Russia the way he believes it should be. The flip side of Peter, however, is less than pleasant. He is violent, authoritarian and often completely without mercy. It is testament to Alpsten’s skill that he comes across as a three dimensional man and not as either an outright hero or simply as a tyrannical villain. Peter and Catherine (as she is named after they become involved) have an intense relationship. She is one of the very few who seems to have some sway with Peter and often uses it intelligently and occasionally ruthlessly. Despite this, Catherine is in the unfortunate position of being a woman in a world where men have all the power. The way women are often treated in Tsarina is shocking but depressingly accurate to the era. No matter how cunning Catherine is, Peter holds all the cards, his word is law and thus theirs is a union that can never truly be equal. Catherine is conspicuously aware of this and it is mainly by sheer force of will that she manoeuvres a life with a man so incendiary.

Tsarina is an epic work of historical fiction which is written in a way that feels so evocative and devastatingly real. The prose is beautifully descriptive and Alpsten is particularly adept as breathing life into the food, landscape and fashions of the era. Tsarina is quite long but it never lags, keeping up a relentless pace of intrigue, suffering, passion and ruthlessness. It is a wild and brutal ride of a book that I was left thinking about long after finishing. Highly recommend.

"He is dead. My beloved husband, the mighty Tsar of all the Russias, has died - and just in time."

Tsarina is a story of power, lust, sex, murder and betrayal. Of rags-to-riches. Of Catherine, the first Tsarina of all the Russias.

It begins in February 1725, on the night that Peter the Great, Tsar of All the Russias, dies. Catherine, her children and his advisors try to conceal his death for as long as possible to delay their fate. It is a matter of life and death. The story then moves between that night and flashbacks to Catherine’s life, beginning when she was just thirteen-years-old, still known as Marta and living with her serf family. We then follow her journey from poor peasant girl to Tsarina; a story that would be deemed too far fetched if you tried to sell it to a publisher. But every word of this novel is based in fact, with just a few liberties taken as the details of Catherine’s early life is shrouded in mystery.

I have always had a love for history and ever since studying the fall of the Tsars for my History A Level I have been fascinated with their story. So when I saw this book advertised I knew from just the title that I HAD to read it. After reading the synopsis it became one of my most anticipated books of the year. Thankfully, this magnificent debut surpassed every one of my high expectations. It was an all-encompassing read. A book that I took my time with, taking time to soak in every word, but also one that I couldn’t put down or stop thinking about when I had to do so.

Ellen Alpsten is a new talent to watch. Exquisitely written and wonderfully crafted, her meticulous research shines through on every page, bringing back to life those who lived and died three hundred years ago and making you feel like they are right there beside you with her powerful storytelling. I was hooked from the start and became totally lost in Catherine’s story, living every word of this book while reading it. Every moment of love and joy, every piercing pain of heartbreak and every gut-wrenching horror she witnessed and experienced, I felt along with her.

"Together, we have lived and loved, and together, we ruled."

After reading this novel it seems unimaginable that Catherine’s story has been forgotten. That such a strong, brave and remarkable woman had been consigned to a footnote in history. At that time life for most of Russia’s people was hard, harsh and bleak. Even those in the upper classes lived in fear of falling out the Tsar’s favour and losing not only their wealth but their lives. Peter had a new vision for Russia and was a ruthless leader who was willing to sacrifice anyone and everything to achieve it. Even as his wife Catherine walked a tightrope knowing she could be stripped of everything and either sent to a convent or killed should the fancy take him. The brutality of life at that time and the lack of rights that were held by even the highest-ranking women is starkly illuminated in Catherine’s story in sobering detail.

Tsarina is a masterpiece of historical fiction. Atmospheric, intoxicating, unsettling, and compelling, this outstanding novel is one that will linger long after you close it’s pages. This gloriously decadent debut is one you don’t want to miss.

A superb captivating historical novel. I learnt so much about Russian life under the rule of Peter the Great and his interaction with the three countries, especially those bordering his Country. It is well written with such clear descriptions of the people, the countryside, the wars and the lives of the poor and the rich that I felt I was there in person. In some ways I felt the sexual scenes, the orgies and the general despotic rule of Peter was unbelievable but this was the sort of behaviour that was Typical of life across the whole of Europe. Life was so different then to what we now experience.
It is a fascinating, almost unbelievable roller coaster of a read which centres mainly of Peter and Marta ( Catherina the Tsarina) and the interactions with the courtiers that surround them.
An amazing read that encouraged me to delve further into the history of this time.

Tsarina is a gripping historical romp with larger than life characters, It was so hard to put this book down! I've already recommended it to several friends.

What a brilliant read
Any lovers of historical fiction will really adore this.
As well as an almost fairy tale of rages to riches it is also a brilliant history lesson.
Just could not put it down and can’t recommend it enough

OMG, this is so bloody amazing!!
I am blown away by the quality of this book, this is never a debut, surely someone is lying to me?? This book has pure intoxicating, indulgent class written all over it. It’s a fascinating, dark tale of a woman so few of heard of – I do count myself in that category. It’s a captivating mix of compelling history, sex, violence and the wonderful story of a woman who was an essential part of history, a woman who fought to gain her place and the respect she deserved.
I am astounded that I had never heard of Catherine I of Russia before now, which strikes me as not just amazing that this brilliantly intelligent and ruthless woman appears to have disappeared from history but also that those might women who came after her; such as the legendary Catherine the great have a lot to thank Catherine I for. She was an extraordinarily cunning, intelligent and determined woman who will do everything she can to keep her place. I really admire Catherine – whose birth name was Marta – she came from humble origins, illegitimate and tough she is sold off by her family and she then was passed from pillar to post; used, violated, humiliated and abused until finally catching the eye of Tsar Peter. Which is not surprising as Marta was an incredible young woman, she was a born survivor, beautiful and alluring with a keen wit. They share a long marriage of ups and downs and lots and lots of sex, he isn’t the perfect husband anything but he is prone to quite shocking behaviour but she keeps her head high and fights to keep her place right up to and after his death she is a strong woman and I do hugely admire her.
As well as being a dramatic and brilliantly vivid tale of danger and hardship this really shows just how debauched the Russian aristocratic court was… My goodness, it’s hot and steamy and quite shocking, there a lot of romping around the bed-chamber – Ouh la la, who knew that the Russian court could be so hot and lustful? It actually reminds me of a mixture of the tv series’ Versailles, The Tudors and The Devil’s Whore, if you’ve watched any you will have an inkling what I mean by sex-mad aristocrats.
It isn’t the easiest of reads, at times it can be uncomfortable and there are some truly harrowing and shocking moments, which are all the more disturbing and uncomfortable to read because this is based on a true story and the abuses, the violence the manipulations all most like did happen which again is shocking.
An advisory note, even if you love your historical fiction do be prepared for some scenes that are uncomfortable but essential to the entirety of the story. If you are of a more sensitive disposition then this may not be the best book, personally, I think it’s utterly amazing, easily one of the best of the years but I have always preferred my historical’s to have a darker feel to them. All I am saying is just take heed because I can guarantee that once you do start reading you won’t be able to stop, it consumes you, it pulls you into the dark, vodka-soaked and turbulent world of the Russian court.
This is thought-provoking, richly textured and enthralling tale of the strength and lengths a woman will go to survive, I cannot recommend this enough.
This was a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed as a part of this blog tour.

Tsarina is the story of Catherine, the first Tsarina of Russia. Born in humble circumstances, she lives with her father and his wife in a small village surviving the brutal winters, with little money or food. Her beauty brings her to the attention of a Russian merchant and so her journey begins, from servant to the most powerful woman in Russia, married to Peter The a Great, a journey that takes her from the battle fields of Europe to the sumptuous palaces of Moscow and St Petersburg.

I love my historical fiction and Tsarina was a book that I had on my wish list since last year, and it definitely lived up my expectations. This book reads like a fairytale, a real rags to riches to story, which makes it the more extraordinary that it is a true story. Marta/Catherine spends all her life battling for survival. As a young girl she battles for survival in the harsh environment of the Baltic states, she fights for her life when she is a servant, and even when she is with the Tsar, she has to fight for her position. Peter the Great spends his whole time in power at war, mainly with Sweden, whilst Catherine fights her own war to keep her place by Peter’s side and in his bed. There are many women who want to take her place, women with better breeding, who mix in the Tsar’s circle and hadn’t previously been a washerwoman for the Tsar’s friend Menishkov. What I loved though was that the relationship between Catherine and Peter was a love match, two people whose love overcame their different circumstances. It maybe her beauty that first draws the attention of the Tsar, but it is her compassion, love, and understanding of Peter and the constraint of his rule that ultimately help keep her position.

The book is split over two timelines, Marta/Catherine’s story and the hours following the Tsar’s death in 1725, and the uncertainty of his successor. Ellen Alpsten writes a rich and detailed story which is full of historical detail. The detailed and descriptive prose bring to life the contrasting environments of the luxurious palaces and the harshness of the battle field with it’s smell of death and decay; interestingly Catherine can adapt to both. I was transported into this world, with it’s luxuries, debauchery and the cold brutality of the battle field. There are some difficult subjects raised of rape, violence, torture and death, but all dealt with a realism of the period when these things were part of everyday for some. I also found it fascinating and interesting to read about the beginnings of St Petersburg, from marsh land to the grand city became, the legacy of Peter the Great and his desire of a city in the West.

Tsarina is as colourful as the book cover, with its rich and fascinating storyline full of historical detail and intriguing characters that are unbelievably real. Marta/Catherine is a fascinating character, whose strength, conniving, and resilience shine through in her journey to become the most powerful woman in Russia, paving the way for the later Catherine The Great. To say I couldn’t put this down is a an understatement, with it’s intrigue, political machinations, power play and wonderful heroine. This is a stunning and sumptuous read, a must read for historical fiction readers.

I requested this one on a bit of a whim, because I liked the cover and the blurb, but I am so glad I did! What a rollercoaster of a book, it is a truly epic story.

A richly woven tapestry of royal intrigue, ruthless ambition, deadly desires, love and war, Ellen Alpsten’s Tsarina is an evocative and enthralling historical novel that brings 17th Century Russia to vivid and glorious life.

Marta is a young girl who doesn’t have much going for her – except for her striking beauty. Illegitimate, destitute and destined for a life of penury and hardship, Marta is determined to defy the odds and to use her strength, her courage and her beauty to shake off the restrictive shackles of her birth and to make something out of herself – even if it means committing a crime that leaves her with no other choice but to go on the run. With danger round every corner and a multitude of risks she must take at every turn, Marta’s journey to success and fulfilment is going to be fraught with peril and jeopardy, but fuelled by her ambition, she refuses to give up and surrender her plans to reach the top – and it looks like all of her prayers have been answered when one night during a celebration she encounters a man who will change her life forever: Peter the Great.

Unlike Marta, Peter was born in a world of great wealth and privilege. A man with a vision who hopes to modernise and change the Tsardom of Russia, Peter is not a man who gives up easily and he will do whatever it takes to ensure that all of his plans come to fruition. Peter does not care that endless lives will be lost in his quest to change Russia into a modern Western empire – especially as it seems that everything he planned and desired is about to come true. The iron-willed ruler is absolutely jubilant that what he set out to achieve is finally within reach, but when he meets a washerwoman called Marta who bowls him over with her beauty and ambition, little does he realise that he might have just met his most formidable opponent…

As Marta becomes Catherine I of Russia, she knows that she needs to be constantly on her guard for there are many people who would love nothing more than to see her topple off her throne. But the one person she must fear is the man who had changed her life: Peter. With enemies determined to destroy her, can she survive the evil machinations of his court and his manipulation and ruthlessness?

A full-bodied, sumptuous, violent, dramatic and scintillating tale, Tsarina is an impeccably researched, meticulously detailed and mesmerizing historical novel written with style and gusto that exquisitely recreates the past and will hold readers spellbound from beginning to end. Ellen Alpsten is a fantastic storyteller who deftly sweeps her readers back to past and who has written an unforgettable novel about a woman who is bold, daring, ruthless, vulnerable and so fascinating, readers will simply not want this book to end.

Readers looking for historical fiction of the highest order need to look no further than Ellen Alpsten’s exceptional debut novel, Tsarina.

I really enjoyed this book.

It’s a chunky read, but the story flows and there is so much action it’s hard to put down.

Peter the Great’s Russia is vividly and sometimes shockingly recreated. Peasant villages, small towns, battlefields, cities and palaces. Alpsten’s description takes the reader back in time and immerses you in the Russia if the past.

Catherine is an astonishing character. Illegitimate and growing up in abject poverty, young Marta is spirited and resilient. A split second decision to fight back when a man types to sexually assault her leads to her being sold into his household and changes the direction of her life forever.

Throughout the book Marta/Catherine has to take extraordinary action to survive. Even as Tsarina she is never secure from the court factions and fickle nature of the Tsar.

The contrast between wealth and poverty in Russia at the time is really striking. Villages are completely destroyed and peasants starving so Peter can wage war and pursue glory in the name of Russia.

The most astonishing thing about the novel is the social life of the Russian aristocracy! So much vodka and sex!

Peter is a man of huge appetites in every sense of the word and Catherine shares this with him until the end of his life.

There are some truly shocking and poignant scenes in this book. This most extraordinary thing is that it is based on the true story of Catherine I.

This Alpsten’s debut novel and it is clearly a labour of love. It is so well researched and full of atmospheric detail.

I don’t know very much about this period of Russian history and found it fascinating. I was really rooting for Catherine throughout the novel.

If you like historical fiction told from a female perspective then you are going to love this book. Compelling from start to end and make you want to find out more.

Thank you Netgalley/Bloomsbury for this advanced copy as part of the blog tour for Tsarina.

An interesting read. Too long and too graphic in places but still an interesting and intriguing read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten is the story of Catherine I of Russia, the lowly born peasant washerwoman who became the first Empress of Russia. This fictional account of her life is clearly based on some solid research and her story is certainly a fascinating one , full of drama and court intrigue. While the author does a wonderful job of evoking life in Russia at that time, with vivid descriptions of hovels and palaces , rags and coronation robes , the book itself is a somewhat uncomfortable mix of epic historical fiction and bodice ripper , and I am not sure who the target reader is.. I found the character of Catherine fascinating and loved the historical details but found the constant gratuitous sex scenes dull and if I had not been provided with a review copy, I would probably not have finished the book.
There are several graphic accounts of sexual assault and torture which some readers may find disturbing.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own,

I appreciated this well researched and well written historical fiction and I'm happy I read it because I learned about a historical character that was new to me.
The plot is fast paced and full of twists and turns. There's a lot of sex and violence but this is part of a realistic depiction of the life in Russia during that times.
I liked how well the characters were developed and how interesting they are. The plot is well crafted and kept me hooked, the historical background is vivid and realistic.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Tsarina’ by Ellen Alpsten
in exchange for an honest review.

Like a few other advance readers I had initially thought that this was a fictional biography of Catherine the Great, though in the opening chapter it was clear that she was illiterate. So realised then that its subject was Catherine I, the second wife of Peter the Great.

I had known next to nothing about this period of Russia’s history or that for a short time after Peter the Great’s death Catherine became Empress and the first of a number of women to rule Imperial Russia. The cover tag line ‘the most powerful woman that history ever forgot’ seemed a perfect description of this novel.

I also felt the cover quote that this was a true life Cinderella story highlighted her astonishing life story. The reason that Catherine was unable to read or write was that she had been born Marta Skawronsk, a peasant and servant. In the novel after she becomes the mistress of the Tsar, she feels that she was too old to learn. Clearly no adult literacy courses in 18th Century Russia.

Ellen Alpsten opened ‘Tsarina’ with a cast of characters, offering names, titles, and positions. I felt a bit overwhelmed by this at first, so skipped over it though found it very handy later on to pop back to remind myself who was who.

‘Tsarina’ is narrated by Marta, later renamed Catherinushka (Catherine) Alexeyevna by Peter. Alpsten acknowledges that very little is known about Catherine’s early life until she emerges as the maid in the household of Ernst and Catherine Gluck. Still once she comes into Peter’s orbit it is well documented. Some dramatic licence was clearly used as while the fate of one of Catherine’s rivals was reproduced with gruesome accuracy, another’s was changed significantly.

Considering the level of poverty experienced by most of the population, there is a shocking amount of spending by the Tsar on jewellery and palaces, while the people are taxed on just about everything. In one scene Catherine is teasing Peter about how many things are taxed and he quips: “The only thing that is not taxed is the air for breathing.’” At this she holds her breath, making him laugh. Oh the rich and powerful, such wits!

There are a number of graphic sexual scenes in the novel though it is in keeping with the level of licentiousness in Peter’s Court. There are also some gruesome deaths and violence in both war and peace. Was it gratuitous? I did find some scenes a bit extreme but clearly Alpsten wasn’t sanitising these aspects of 18th century Russian society.

There were also a lot of pregnancies. Only two of Catherine’s twelve children survived to adulthood so quite heartbreaking to read. Catherine says at one point: “I have borne you twelve children, Peter Alexeyevich Romanov. Can you imagine what it means to give birth twelve times? None of your soldiers has suffered like that or risked his life so often for you. And do you know why I did that? Just for love, my Tsar.” I cheered!

There is a lot of history in the pages of ‘Tsarina ‘: battles, negotiations, Peter’s modernisation of Russia, dinner parties, and how the Amber Room came to St. Petersburg. It’s clear that Ellen Alpsten spent many years researching this novel as she says in her Acknowledgments that she’s been obsessed with Catherine since she was thirteen.

Overall, ‘Tsarina’ proved a highly engaging read, rich in historical detail.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Books about Russian figures from history are always fascinating aren't they? Catherine the Great - I knew nothing about her and even though this is fiction, there's a lot of atmosphere and insight into that time and place. It's lush and lavish but there's also the feeling that behind that glitz, the real colour and state of affairs is quite something else.

I do love a good historical fiction novel and I read this over the course of an evening and morning. The women of that time, even if they were royal, well they had some tough decisions and roles to play didn';t they? I love the novels about the Tudors but turns out the Russians were just as bad. That kind of novel set in the grand days of the Russian empire hits more than a few notes.

However, I thought the novel sagged in the middle and there were far too many sex scenes ofa questionable nature. Trigger warnings for violence too which yes, was part of the time I suppose but I didn't need to know quite so much.
The cover makes this look like a bodice ripper which is not the full story.

Initially I thought the book was about Catherine The Great. However, the opening of the book depicts a woman who cannot read and as we know Catherine the Great was an educated woman. It soon becomes apparent that this is Catherine I of Russia. The second wife of Peter the Great. Between them they had 12 children of which only 2 survived. Elizabeth and Anna.

Catherine was born Marta into a peasant family. Raised by her father and step mother. She was sold at 15 into a life of servitude. Although unable to read and write she is a bright woman. The man that buys her Vassily is a brutal man. Who meets a brutal end.

After running away she is taken in by a pastor and his family. Here she finds her first love. However this is snatched away as she is married off to a kind but celibate man. On the down fall of her town, on rushing to see her dying husband she is taken by soldiers. It is by this that she comes to meet Peter.

The book is told in two halves. The first being her story of rags to riches. The second her coming up through a male dominated era in Russia and her life with Peter the Great.. Although intelligent he was slightly insane. At times he could be a very cruel man. This tale is told through the eyes of Catherine Alexeyeuna herself.

The book has sex and violence between its pages but is a great piece of historical fiction and you can't help but admire the woman that Catherine was. We've all learnt about Henry VIII now its about time we heard more about the Russian royalty.

A fabulous book. Tsarina makes for a great read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review
#Netgalley #Tsarina #EllenAlpsten

I really enjoyed this book. Her early life may not be accurately depicted but it is fiction. More importantly, it gives the reader a sense of the absolute power, extravagance and cruelty of the Tzar. The book traces Catherine's rise to from humble beginnings to Empress of Russia. A great read for anyone visiting St Petersburg who likes their history in a digestible form. It also gives an added dimension to books such as Russka by Edward Rutherfurd.