Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Monday, April 5, 2021

Rasputin’s Daughter by Robert Alexander - 2006 - A National Best Seller


 Rasputin’s Daughter by Robert Alexander - 2006 - A National Best Seller


Grigori Rasputin


January 21, 1869, Pokrovskoye, Russia

Height: 6′ 4″

Assassinated: December 30, 1916, Yusupov Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Spouse: Praskovia Dubrovina (m. 1890–1916)

Children: Maria RasputinVarvara RasputinaDmitri Rasputin

Grandchildren: Tatyana SolovievMaria Solovieff - Wikepedia



In February i read an exciting well researched historical fiction on last few days of The Romanovs.  The Kitchen Boy focuses on Yekaterinburg when The royal Family is captive up to their execution on 16–17 July 1918.  


The Kitchen Boy is structured as if it were a tape recording of a man, now 98 and living in Chicago who at age 14 was in Yekaterinburg (romanized as “Ekaterinburg” serving as a kitchen boy to Tsar Nicholas and his family while they were held captive by the communists.



 Rasputin’s Daughter focuses on a late Romanov person famous through her father. There is a lot of background information in the  novel.  We see the ways Rasputin comes to be very important to The Imperial Family. He is a figure common in Russia, a “mad monk”.  His daughter Maria tries not to be stuck in his shadow.  He has a well deserved reputation for using his contacts to abuse women sexually. Alexander offers lots of scenes verifying this, some near x-rated.


Highly placed figures want to eliminate Rasputin.  Seemingly only he can cure rhe royal Heir when he seems close to dying from hemophilia.  This gives him great power over the royal Family.


We learn about this from the daughter.


I found this book interesting but suggest you start with The Kitchen Boy first.


“For over forty years Robert Alexander has been traveling to Russia, where he has attended Leningrad State University, worked for the U.S. Government, and traveled extensively. For nearly twenty years he was a partner in a very successful St. Petersburg company that operated a warehouse and customs clearance center, dental clinic, and Barabu, chain of espresso-wine bars with locations at The Hermitage and the Fortress of Peter and Paul.

Alexander was inspired to write his first book when he was followed by the KGB. Since then he has penned some twenty-four books, including mysteries, thrillers, children’s fiction, and historical novels. He has also authored popular mystery games, written for television, and created mysteries that appeared on the back of 15 million boxes of Total Cereal.  His first historical novel of revolutionary Russia, The Kitchen Boy, was a New York Times bestseller, and is being produced for film. Mr. Alexander speaks frequently to book clubs and can often be heard on the radio.  Born and raised in Chicago, Alexander currently makes his home in Minneapolis.” - from the Author’s website 


http://robertalexanderbooks.com/









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