I'm always quite surprised, and of course pleased, when publishers send me unsolicited books. They are obviously in a generous mood this Christmas because a nice little selection has plopped through the letterbox this week. One package was from Short Books, a publishing house which specialises, though obviously not exclusively, in non-fiction. There were three books in the parcel, though as it had fallen apart in transit and been bandaged up by the post office, maybe there were more when it set out. Anyway no doubt you'll hear more about some of my acquisitions in the coming weeks and months, but some some reason this one caught my eye and I read it very very quickly.
The book tells the story of the evacuation of a shipload of Russian aristocrats in 1919. The Tsar and his family had recently been killed by the Bolsheviks and everybody on board wanted to get out as quickly as possible. The passengers included the Dowager Tsarina (the Tsar's mother) and her daughter, several Grand Dukes including the one who had murdered Rasputin, a collection of princes and princesses of various ages from twenty-ish to a few months old, several English governesses, the Dowager's two enormous cossaks (who slept across her doorway but suffered terribly from sea-sickness) and numerous servants.
The ship, which was British, left from Yalta and sailed into the mediterranean, heading for Malta. The journey only took a few days, so really a description of its events would not be enough to fill a book, even a Short one (sorry). However the narrative is really concerned as much about the historical background of these people, who were, interestingly, divided into two absolutely opposing factions and were horrified at first to find they had to travel, and even eat, together. It also tells of the eventual future of them all, which was the bit I found most interesting. What do you do with the rest of your life if you have been brought up at court and never had to lift a finger to do anything for yourself? Most of them adapted surprisingly well, in fact, in various ways, from marrying film stars to becoming communist agitators and much more besides.
Frances Welch is an expert on Russian history of this period, so if it sounds like your cup of tea, go for it.
