Tsarina
Trigger warnings: rape, suicide, miscarriage, murder, slavery, physical abuse
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Peasant girl Marta goes through a long series of misfortunes before ending up in a Russian military camp and becoming the mistress of Tsar Peter of Russia. After almost a decade of being his mistress, she marries him and becomes Catherine. After Peter's death, she schemes to become Tsarina.
Ellen Alpsten creates an epic story following almost the whole of Marta's life. She shifts from a simple peasant girl to a servant with benefits, then lives with a clergyman and his family, then is taken by a Russian general, which is how she comes to the tsar's attention. She frequently miscarries the tsar's children while hoping to provide him with a son and heir.
History is not sugar-coated here, and there are many instances of rape, physical abuse, and murder. Women are treated as property, and Marta is sold once (almost twice) to others and also given as a gift as if she is an ornament or concubine. One of Marta's companions commits suicide because she cannot handle the rape and murder of her children anymore. Dwarves are treated as pets and less than human, and you see them beaten for displeasing the tsar. There are also Moors that are owned by the tsar, and they are made to stand out in the freezing Russian cold just so their dark skin can glisten next to the ice. Each noble is given land with a number of "souls" on it, and these souls are basically slaves. Body parts are removed when workers try to escape, and on a third escape attempt they are killed. And yet, Peter has a slave that he "treats like family" and sends to Paris to get an education.
One anachronism that bothered me is that in a list of vendors living in Russia in 1725, the author mentions welders. Welding as we know it didn't exist until the 1800s, even though rudimentary blacksmith-style welding of materials did exist before then. Since blacksmiths were listed in the same sentence, I can only assume that this was meant to mean modern welding. I double-checked with both Google and my husband, who is a welder. Will the average person catch this or even think about it? Probably not. But it did ruin the historical value of that chapter for me because it seemed so out of place.
Tsar Peter (also known as Peter the Great) is a very unlikeable character that seesaws from a vulnerable, child-like man to a violent and abusive tsar. It's hard to understand sometimes why Marta/Catherine stays with him, other than fear of what will happen if she leaves. Peter becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the book, making even his closest friends and family afraid of him.
If even half the events of this book are true, Marta had such a hard life. She starts to become as cold and ruthless as Peter as the years go by. Her fear of losing her status drives her to manipulate people and ruin lives. Peter and Catherine start to compete for who can do the most horrible things — she disfigures a woman pregnant with Peter's child and leaves her to die; he retaliates by torturing and killing her lover and having the man's preserved head displayed on Catherine’s nightstand.
The novel covers so much ground and so much in terms of time that it's a slog to get through it at times. There are chapters where the action slows and it feels as if time and my interest waned as well. The rape and violence also make it a hard book to read. All in all, I'm left with a glad feeling that I didn't live in eighteenth-century Russia.
Give this book to fans of epic historical sagas who are not squeamish. Readers looking for a book with a strong female character may not enjoy this title, as Marta exists at the whims of the men around her despite her courage.
Ellen Alpsten is an author and journalist living in London. Tsarina is this Kenyan-born author's first novel.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Length: 464 pages
Release Date: November 10, 2020
I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.