After the Romanovs

 

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Epoque Through Revolution and War- Helen Rappaport

St. Martin's Press

Release Date: March 8, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Paris has always been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it has also been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland, sometimes leaving with only the clothes on their backs.

Arriving in Paris, former princes could be seen driving taxicabs, while their wives who could sew worked for the fashion houses, their unique Russian style serving as inspiration for designers like Coco Chanel. Talented intellectuals, artists, poets, philosophers, and writers struggled in exile, eking out a living at menial jobs. Some, like Bunin, Chagall and Stravinsky, encountered great success in the same Paris that welcomed Americans like Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Political activists sought to overthrow the Bolshevik regime from afar, while double agents from both sides plotted espionage and assassination. Others became trapped in a cycle of poverty and their all-consuming homesickness for Russia, the homeland they had been forced to abandon. 

This is their story.

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Helen Rappaport's latest book takes us to Paris. But not a Paris that most of us are familiar with. Starting in the early 1900s, the Paris of the Belle Époque was the Paris we may see in movies or books but can barely imagine- a Paris of limitless wealth, royalty, and endless parties. Russian Princes and Grand Dukes threw money around like it was water, bought homes and jewels for their mistresses, and catered to their highest tastes with no thought that the end could be in sight. When World War I arrived and they retreated to Russia, they had no idea of the changes that were to come. The Bolshevik Revolution that killed the tzar and his family, along with countless other hundreds of people, ended their Grand Russia. Hundreds of thousands of people fled for Europe, and tens of thousands ended up in Paris.

Rappaport does an excellent job of not getting sidetracked by all of the stories she could tell us. Instead, she stays focused on the few people or families she chose to follow to give the reader an overarching understanding of the conditions the Russian emigres faced.  She doesn't fall into the possible trap of describing in detail the Revolution or the fighting- that isn't the point of this book and you can look to her bibliography for suggestions if you want to read more (or read one of her other books on the time period). She wants to follow the emigration, and does a brilliant job of immersing the reader in the hellish conditions suffered by everyone escaping Russia, be they peasant or prince. Once back in Paris it is a different world from the first few chapters and the reader can only marvel at the strength of the people who survived such incredible changes. From riches to rags, generals and princes to dishwashers and taxi drivers.

The focus isn't only on the (formerly) ultra rich. There are the writers, the artists, the brilliant circles that Paris was known for, only when they escaped the Bolsheviks so many writers and painters were faced with the shock of never seeing Russia again that they were disconnected from their true muse. Bunin, Chagall, and Stravinsky managed to succeed where so many failed and Rappaport tells the failures as well as the successes with compassion and courage. 

After the Romanovs is in many ways a timely book, asking us to consider questions about success and failure, as well as having compassion for those displaced by political violence they had nothing to do with. It asks if it is possible to be a people, like Russians, if you are not living in Russia but exiled elsewhere- and if the Russia you and your generation remember disappears can you still be inspired by it? The generations of Russia's migration to Paris remained loyal to Russia to the end, a dream they held onto that kept them going, inspired their art and writing, their daily work, and their daily suffering. 

Helen Rappaport's well researched After the Romanovs brings early 20th century Paris and the men and women living there to life in each page. Beautifully written, this is a book that is both inspiring and heart breaking. A must read for history lovers.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Duchess Countess

 

The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth Century London- Catherine Ostler

Atria Books

Release Date: February 22, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: As maid of honor to the Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Chudleigh enjoyed a luxurious life in the inner circle of the Hanoverian court. With her extraordinary style and engaging wit, she both delighted and scandalized the press and public. She would later even inspire William Thackeray when he was writing his classic Vanity Fair, providing the inspiration for the alluring social climber Becky Sharp. But Elizabeth’s real story is more complex and surprising than anything out of fiction.

A clandestine, candlelit wedding to the young heir to an earldom, a second marriage to a duke, a lust for diamonds, and an electrifying appearance at a masquerade ball in a gossamer dress—it’s no wonder that Elizabeth’s eventual trial was a sensation. Charged with bigamy, an accusation she vehemently fought against, Elizabeth refused to submit to public humiliation and retire quietly.

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The story of Elizabeth Chudleigh is one that might fall under 'truth is stranger than fiction'- or at least more dramatic- and Catherine Ostler does a good job of captivating the reader from the beginning of her book, The Duchess Countess, investing them in Elizabeth's journey.  Through the highs and lows, the trials (both figurative and literal) and triumphs of her life, Elizabeth travelled among the highest circles of English and European aristocracy. She knew everyone and everyone knew her. While this was often the secret to her success it also became part of her downfall.  

With her father and brother dying while she was still young, Elizabeth learned early on the lessons that women in her time had little security without the men in their family. She never wanted to be dependent on others if she could depend on herself instead.  Pure luck, family connections, beauty and wit combined to get her the position of a maid of honor to the Princess of Wales- a position which meant Elizabeth met nearly everyone worth knowing and had brilliant marriage opportunities despite her lack of fortune. But she threw those away to secretly married Augustus Hervey, a second son to a Count. The two swore to keep it secret and he went on a naval ship a few days later. They almost instantly regretted the marriage and and both were good at acting like it hadn't happened-especially Augustus who apparently took womanizing to a whole new level. When Elizabeth met the Duke of Kingston she knew it was the real thing, unable to marry the two still were in love, he subsidized building projects, parties, and anything else wanted until she was declared free to marry. Reading this book, it is impossible to believe the two weren't genuinely in love and that it was love, not money or title, that attracted Elizabeth. Naturally many at the time were not so kind- especially the Duke's nephews who were looking forward to inheriting. With his tragic death, the vultures descended and Elizabeth found herself fighting once more- this time not only for her husband's will but for her own marriage, as the Kingston family wanted her declared a bigamist. This became the trial of the century and absorbed the country's interest more than the war with the American colonies.

Convicted of bigamy but still fighting for her inheritance, Elizabeth left England for the Continent. Hoping for a more friendly atmosphere she travelled Europe and eventually found her way to Russia and the court of Catherine the Great. Still calling herself the Duchess of Kingston since she refused to accept the House of Lord's verdict against her, Russia was one of the only places that would acknowledge her as a duchess. Elizabeth was lucky enough to hit Russia during their craze for all things English, and being extremely rich and able to gift Catherine and her inner circle with paintings and jewels helped ease her way. Mixed success, lavish spending, and continued trials regarding money plagued her for the rest of her life, as did the Duke of Kingston's nephews. While Elizabeth herself was a generous woman and always tried to forgive others and help them, sadly it seems she was never treated as well as she tried to treat others.  

 Anyone who thinks history is dry and dull has clearly not been paying attention to recent streaming service offerings, and The Duchess Countess would make a brilliant addition to these ranks. It's all here: drama, fashion, jewels, tragedy, love, hatred, glittering balls, venomous barbs, politics, kings, queens, legal dramas, clandestine marriages that may or may not actually be marriages. Ostler does a brilliant job explaining the complexities different kinds of marriage at the time- many people weren't sure if they were or were not married based on some of the laws so when Elizabeth and Augustus faced off years later it wasn't as odd as it would seem to us today for the ecclesiastical courts to declare them not married. And it seems more like Elizabeth got caught up in politics when her marriage came before the House of Lords years later than anything else. 

Elizabeth Chudleigh was a woman who knew men held all the power in her world and refused to accept being pushed into the role of a quiet, subservient, invisible, woman. Whether she accepted the double standard of the day where men could have mistresses and second families and then judge her for marrying when she thought she was free to do so, or whether she was angered by it we don't know. But she believed in herself and believed she could do what pleased her, ignoring jealous and venomous critics along the way. Does that make her an 'adventuress' as Thackery makes the antiheroine Becky Sharpe, always looking out for herself? Someone desperate for advancement at all costs? I don't think so. I think this is the story of a woman ahead of her time, challenging society- and frightening society with that challenge. 

Excellent research and writing will keep those afraid of 'dry' history glued to the pages of this fascinating story. Elizabeth Chudleigh's story is that of a woman ahead of her time, one who made mistakes, but refused to hide away and instead enjoyed life to the fullest. She faced life's challenges and the men who challenged her head on and never apologized when she thought she was right. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review