Publication Date: July 27, 2025
The youngest sister of Tsar Nichoas II, Grand Duchess Olga was trapped in a loveless marriage, but found love in the arms of a handsome army lieutenant. Meanwhile, the Russian empire was disintegrating with the triumph of the Bolshevik revolution and the execution of many of the Romanovs. Olga had a hard choice to make: should she remain in her beloved Russia, or flee with her young family to safety?
For more than 300 years, the Romanov family ruled over Russia. The fall of this imperial family has fueled countless books.
Author Susan Appleyard highlights the life of Olga Alexandrovna, Tsar Nicholas II’s younger sister, in Escape of the Grand Duchess, beginning with her marriage at age 18.
Told in first person, the story begins with Olga’s unhappy marriage while introducing a changing Russian society. The author’s meticulous research is demonstrated through the story’s events, as absurd as they might seem, such as Olga’s sudden hair loss.
Olga’s battle between duty and love unfolds as she falls in love for the first time. Her struggle for happiness, particularly with someone deemed unworthy on the social scale, is compelling.
Through relief efforts during World War I and a perilous journey fleeing Russia, Escape of the Grand Duchess weaves historical context to bring the characters to life.
I was published by a publishing house in Toronto who gave me a three-book contract and published two before selling out to another company, so it did not end well. This newbie author was pretty devastated but never gave up writing – just gave up trying to get published.
Then along came Amazon and self-publishing. Some of my books have won Brag Medallions, been finalists in the MM Bennetts Award and the Wishing Shelf Award, and the Coffee Pot Book Club’s Gold Medal for Historical Fiction.
Thank you for your review, Amy.