The Tsarina's Daughter

By Carolly Erickson



A bittersweet story of the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, "The Tsarina's Daughter" creates an alternate ending for the very real story of what happened to Grand Duchess Tatiana during Russia's Revolution.

The story begins before the Revolution. Tatiana is six years old and living in affluence in the opulent Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. She has witnessed the love the Russian people have for her father and family; it is this love that starts to sour a few years later, shocking Tatiana. She begins to see the poverty and squalor some Russians are living in, and wonders at the stark difference between their living situations and her own.

As the story progresses, Tatiana falls in love as a girl. It is later, when she is a nurse during the war, that she finds love as a young woman. The soldier she falls in love with is her patient and she helps him regain complete health. He becomes her father's right-hand man, staying with him through the war, and finally during his abdication.

Once Tsar Nicholas abdicates, his family becomes prisoner in their palace. Upon his return from the war, soldiers remove them all to Siberia, where they are locked away in a cold, old house all through the winter.

"The Tsarina's Daughter" is a book that illustrates strength and perseverance, even in the most trying times. The reader is greatly sympathetic to Tatiana who never quits. She faces obstacles head-on and works to live her life. Author Carolly Erickson weaves a sad tale that really pulls at the reader's heartstrings, especially when the Tsar and his family are imprisoned and mistreated. In one scene, the family is finally allowed outside their home to take a spring picnic. When they get outside, there are people standing on the other side of the iron fence, shouting and calling them names like "German bitches," referring to Tatiana, her older sister Olga, her younger sisters Anastasia and Marie, and their mother. The Tsar tries to ask the guards to let them eat their meal inside, saying that it looked like it was about to rain. He is denied.

At a signal from papa we sat on the picnic cloth, hastily unwrapped the food in our hamper and tried to eat it as quickly as we could. But it was hard to force ourselves to take a single bite, with the constant yelling and jeering. To chew was torment, to swallow all but impossible, though I managed to force down a few small bites. The food was tasteless and stuck in my throat, making me cough.

Anastasia spat out her food. Marie managed to spill her plate, though whether she did this intentionally or not I couldn't have said. Mama sat on the cloth, unmoving, stony-faced. Papa ate, slowly and methodically, until the first raindrops began to fall.

We all looked up at the sky gratefully, hoping that we would be allowed to go back to the palace now that the weather had changed.

But we were wrong. We were forced to stay where we were, while the tormenting, taunting crowd grew, heedless of the rain, and the guards, enjoying our humiliation, stood by and watched the scene, making rude remarks to us and to each other and elbowing one another in the ribs and laughing.

The rainwater ran down our faces and into our mouths, mingling with the tasteless food, until in the end the plates were washed clean, the food having run off into the grass, and we were completely bedraggled.

"All right, Romanov," the head guard spat out. "Back to your jail now. The picnic's over."

My stomach hurt. I was nauseous. But I was afraid that if I threw up in front of our jailers there would be more punishment for us all. As we walked back to the palace I did my best to fight my nausea, holding onto Olga--- who, I could tell, was feeling ill too--- and concentrating on taking one step at a time.

This story of Tatiana Romanov and her family is embellished a great deal from the actual story of Tatiana Romanov, but it is a happier alternative (though only slightly) to how she really ends up. The book is well written; the characters are each integral. While you should not read the story to be educated on the facts of the Russian Revolution, you should read the book. It is a fantastic story full of suspense, sorrow, passion, and above all, perseverance.

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