The Story of the Tsarinas who Came Before Catherine the Great

When her father dies without naming a new heir, her mother takes the throne of Russia as the first Tsarina. But nothing’s assured in the dangers of wintery Russia, and over the next fifteen years a series of Tsars and Tsarinas struggle to rule. To some, a friend, and to others, a threat, Elizabeth weathers the political storm. Her determination to make a life for herself leads her down a difficult path, but it might end with her upon her father’s throne.

If you’re like me, what you know about about Russia before the 1917 Revolution is pretty much zero. I’ve heard the name Catherine the Great. I’ve heard the name Peter the Great. I know serfdom was a thing. And Ivan the Terrible must have been pretty terrible. But I certainly don’t know what was so great about Peter or Catherine, or know anything about the culture, the politics, the international relations, or even what the map looked like back then. Ellen Alpsten’s The Tsarina’s Daughter is not only a compelling story about a woman who survives the tides of Russian politics, but also one that is splattered with history, culture, and a completely new (for me) understanding of Russia’s past.

What I Loved

The World-building

Often, world-building is used only for fantasy and science-fiction novels because it’s important to vividly portray the imagined world to a reader. However, it’s just as important for historical fiction. I read historical fiction to, however briefly, travel to the past, and I want the world I see, taste, and feel to be richly detailed. Alpsten does not disappoint in this regard.

The time period is 1720-1741, when Russia has declared itself for the first time to be an Empire, not just a kingdom. After Peter the Great’s victories in the Great Northern War, Russia stretches from the Black Sea into the Baltics (modern day Latvia, Lithuanian, and Estonia). Serfdom organizes the empire and, while the Romanovs and their court feast on delicacies, drape themselves in dresses coated in diamonds, and erect beautiful palaces, the people scrape through the frigid winters, choking on the bread that freezes in their throats.

Alspten writes of ice flows in the Neva river, cracking and creaking so loudly they tear people from their sleep. She describes pork with crispy skin and cake dripping with honey. The ottepel, or thaw, is relayed in beautiful detail, as Russia breaks from the hold of winter.

The Politics

Corruption reigns in the royal court and the struggle to align Russia with the east or the west is a central conflict that seizes the politics of the era. Thus, the second thing I loved about this novel was the politics.

For all of you who, like me, wondered why Peter the Great was so great, I (and this novel) are here to answer the question. Peter the Great dragged Russia from the Medieval Ages and began to style the empire after 1700s Europe. Traditional Russian clothing was outlawed and men and women had to dress in European fashion. Men shaved their beards (it had long been considered shameful to be clean-shaven) and Russian princesses were married to foreigners when the Tsar had long refused to allow any outside influence into Russia. Peter the Great also constructed St Petersburg, forcing an entire city to be built in a boggy swamp, because it was a port city and closer to Central Europe.

Throughout Peter’s reign, plenty of people frowned upon his push toward westernization. He killed his son and heir because Alexey had vowed to reverse all his father’s reforms when he became Tsar. What it came down to was that many Russians despised foreign influence, wanting to keep Russia Russian.

A mind-boggling piece of the political game was that Tsar Peter started a new trend that a Tsar had to name his successor, rather than it simply being the eldest son (this isn’t mind-boggling, but how it played out is…) This era of history (starting with Peter) was characterized by rulers dying without naming their successor. It’s explained in the novel that it is illegal, punishable by torture and death, to even think about the Tsar dying. Thus, if the Tsar has not named an heir, the court is too afraid to push them to do so for fear they will be punished. For a family that drops like flies, you’d think the Romanovs would have learned after the first time to pick an heir. This uncertainty allowed for many political factions to maneuver themselves into power, which was great for the story, but it struck me as something that should have been learned the first time round and not repeated multiple times in fifteen short years.

Lizenka’s Spirit and Kindness

Lizenka’s childhood stubbornness and determination was admirable, though certainly born out of being spoiled. She loses a lot of that spirit for a while, though eventually flashes of her fighting spirit begin to return, and she manages to recover it entirely by the end. So much of history is about men, yet Elizabeth forges her own path.

What I Disliked

Lizenka’s Periods of Passivity

As a child, Lizenka was full of fire, but she begins to lose that as she grows up. However, much of her passivity later in life arose from a different origin: her kindness. Thus, I both loved and occasionally grew frustrated with her kindness. More so, what her kindness meant: it meant she was unwilling to seize her chances because she was thinking of others rather than herself. It meant that for a long time she let others control her life, and these periods of passivity dragged on too long in several cases.

There are several chunks in the novel where Lizenka is steered by those in power and barely does anything to improve her station. She’s fearful, yet seems content to not make any extra waves by trying to help herself. Eventually, of course, she always acts, but the periods where she is passive stretched on longer than necessary.

In my opinion, several chapters could have been cut or shortened. I put the book aside for a few days during the longest period of inactivity, but I did pick it back up again because I was rooting for this girl. And she did not disappoint.

The Intrusion of the Fantastical

The other thing I did not like was the brief and strange fantastical element. Near the beginning of the novel, Lizenka encounters a mythical pagan creature called a Leshy. The Leshy gives her several sentences of prophecy, which Lizenka recalls multiple times throughout the novel, applying the Leshy’s vague pronouncements to moments of her life. While I love fantasy novels, I did not enjoy this element in The Tsarina’s Daughter. Alpsten wrote so vividly and beautifully about 1700s life and politics in Russia that the fantastical element only served to yank me from the world. As a historical fiction novel, I want to imagine that every scene, every sentence, could have actually happened, but the Leshy yanked me from the mindset.

If additional fantasy elements had been woven into the story after page 50, I doubt I would have minded so much because the book would have been reframed as a fantasy novel, not a historical fiction novel. But adding only one fantastical element and for such a short scene seemed lazy. I am guessing Alpsten’s intent was to provide tension, as the reader anticipates how the prophecies will come to pass. However, the prologue of the book (an event from years in the future), provides plenty of tension that was actually stronger than any tension the prophecies provided.

The story would have been stronger without the Leshy and it’s pronouncements. However, the event with the Leshy is small and it doesn’t impact the flow of the story or even the choices Lizenka makes, so it was fairly easy to ignore. It did not detract enough to ruin the novel for me.

Who Would Like this Novel

If you like political reads or are interested in Russia or want to learn about a time period and region you’ve never considered, this book is for you. As a history lover and traveler, I was intrigued by this era and this book did not disappoint. I haven’t read any other books about Russian history, but the focus on politics over action reminded me of Michelle Moran (she writes Egyptian historical fiction). Her novel, The Heretic Queen, (though a much shorter read than Alpsten’s) dives deeply into political maneuvering in a highly interesting era of history, and she sprinkles vivid world-building details throughout her compelling plot, as well.

If you’re worried about The Tsarina’s Daughter being too dense or reading like a history book, don’t be! The chapters are short, which breaks up any heavy exposition, and Alpsten twines the history and politics with a love story and plenty of unique and interesting characters. However, if you prefer action scenes over verbal sparring and subtle machinations, then this novel is not for you.

What about Alpsten’s Other Book: Tsarina?

After reading The Tsarina’s Daughter, I wasn’t ready to leave 1700s Russia, so I gave Ellen Alpsten’s first novel, Tsarina, a try.

Tsarina was ten times more graphic regarding cruel punishments, rape, and the Tsar’s promiscuousness. I am sure Alpsten is being historically accurate and that those activities were common, especially in Russia where serfdom rendered millions of people without rights. People took what they wanted because the strong prevailed, not the moral. However, it was extremely difficult to continue reading page after page and instance after instance of cruelty in graphic detail.

Marta was also not as compelling as Elizabeth. She came from a position of lesser power (i.e. no power), so her experience was bound to be very different. She lived a precarious life characterized by fear–if the Tsar was displeased with her, she had nothing to fall back on. This rendered her petty and jealous. While she was people smart and engaged in her own political manipulations, she was not kind like Lisenka, or honorable. And she loved the Tsar, who was cruel and callous and undeserving of her love.

Peter’s behavior as Tsar was atrocious. This is not addressed in The Tsarina’s Daughter because Elizabeth is a child who adores her father. She only sees one side of him. But Marta loves him for decades even as he’s cruel, petty, and throws tantrums like a child. I had a hard time truly liking any character in this novel, so while the politics and the reforms were interesting, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way Marta rose from nothing to become the most powerful person in Russia, I just did not enjoy the novel anywhere as much as The Tsarina’s Daughter.