The Last Grand Duchess

June 1, 2022

Rasputin and Anastasia have long captured the world's imagination and are often the first two figures thought of in the doomed Romanov family. Turnbull (The Woman Before Wallis) flips the script, however, and focuses instead on the eldest Romanov child, Grand Duchess Olga Romanov, in this moving historical drama. Olga comes of age during a tumultuous time in Russia. Her family's way of life is on the way out, and she is struggling to come to terms with it. As war looms, Olga and her sisters trade the glittering palace life for nursing and do what they can to help the wounded soldiers, but they question whether it is enough for the Russian people. Equal parts gleaming and romantic, listeners will cheer for Olga's romantic exploits, and they will hope that she somehow escapes her fate. Yet the story slowly gets darker and gloomier as the end creeps closer. Expertly narrated by Mary Jane Wells, whose cadence and accent lend well to the esteemed Romanov court. VERDICT A new take on an overtold and tragic story.--Erin Cataldi

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November 22, 2021
Turnbull (The Woman Before Wallis) again successfully humanizes a family of powerful historical figures in this look at the end of the Romanov dynasty from the vantage point of Olga Nikolaevna, oldest daughter of last czar Nicholas. The knowledge that almost every reader will have—that Olga, her siblings, and parents will be executed in 1917 after the Russian Revolution—gives the novel a tragic patina from the outset (the ending is previewed by a prologue recounting a prophecy, made at Olga’s birth in 1896, that she would die before the age of 30). Turnbull begins in 1907 with a health scare that demonstrates the limits of royal lineage and power, as Olga’s hemophiliac brother Alexei’s severe illness prompts a fear that he will die young, a tragedy their mother believes was averted by the intercession of mystic Grigori Rasputin. Each chapter brings Olga closer to her doom, as the Romanovs are eventually imprisoned in the ironically named Freedom House. Though the tragic story has been fictionalized effectively in novels such as Carolyn Meyer’s Anastasia and Her Sisters, Turnbull adds to the lore by focusing on a more obscure Romanov, with a gift at making Olga’s situation painfully tangible. This amply justifies taking another look at the lives of the condemned royals. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.