TSARINA Ellen Alpsten
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Book Club Guide TSARINA Ellen Alpsten In brief Lover, murder, mother, Tsarina. Memoirs of a Geisha meets Game of Thrones in this page-turning epic charting the extraordinary rags-to-riches tale of the most powerful woman history ever forgot. In detail Spring 1699: Illegitimate, destitute and strikingly beautiful, Marta has survived the brutal Russian winter in her remote Baltic village. Sold by her family into household labour at the age of fifteen, Marta survives by committing a crime that will force her to go on the run. A world away, Russia's young ruler, Tsar Peter I, passionate and iron-willed, has a vision for transforming the traditionalist Tsardom of Russia into a modern, Western empire. Countless lives will be lost in the process. Falling prey to the Great Northern War, Marta cheats death at every turn, finding work as a washerwoman at a battle camp. One night at a celebration, she encounters Peter the Great. Relying on her wits and her formidable courage, and fuelled by ambition, desire and the sheer will to live, Marta will become Catherine I of Russia. But her rise to the top is ridden with peril; how long will she survive the machinations of Peter's court, and more importantly, Peter himself? Author Biography Ellen Alpsten was raised in Kenya. She won the Grande École short story competition for her novella Meeting Mr Gandhi while studying for her Msc in PPE, and went on to work as a producer and presenter for Bloomberg TV in London. She has written for Vogue and Conde Nast Traveller. Tsarina is her debut novel. She lives in London. Further Reading Game of Thrones – George R. R. Martin Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden The Medici – Paul Strathern Versailles – Elizabeth Massie Dr Zhivago – Boris Pasternak Outlander – Diana Gaboldon The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy ‘It makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme’ DAISY GOODWIN ‘Tsarina should come with a health warning- once you start reading, it’s impossible to stop’ HANNAH ROTHSCHILD QUESTIONS Not to be confused with Catherine the Great, Catherine I of Russia was arguably the most powerful woman history ever forgot. She was the first ever ruling empress of Russia, and yet there are hardly any biographical studies devoted to her life. Why do you think this is? Tsarina takes us on a vivid journey into the Russia of the turn of the eighteenth century, from poverty-stricken slums to opulent aristocratic courts. What did you learn about the history of this period? How useful is fiction as a way of learning about the past? To what extent should the author indulge in their own creative license? How does the author depict the contrast between the filth, violence and crudity of brutal poverty, and the decadent, luxurious lifestyle of the aristocratic court? Are there any ways in which these two worlds are similar? In many ways, Marta’s tale is a classic story of rags to riches, from peasant serfdom to royalty. Is it really this simple? Discuss the factors that make this more than just a fairytale. Marta, or Catherine I, must navigate a volatile period of social and political unease and the cutthroat world of aristocratic politics, all the while obeying the rigid and complex system of gender roles that dictate society’s behaviour. How would her story have been different if she were a man? How creative is she at using the resources available to her to survive? What did you make of the often explicit sexual scenes in the novel? How did the romantic elements shape your understanding of the characters? Is sex used to wield power too? How did you react to the graphic scenes of violence in the novel? What role do these descriptions play in the novel overall? For most readers embarking on this novel, if they know anything at all about Catherine I, it will be her status as the wife of Peter the Great. How successful do you think this novel is in separating out the woman from her position and role as wife? Much of the novel’s drama focuses on the backstabbing, aggressive world of aristocratic politics in Russia at the time. What parallels can you draw with modern society? How much – or little – do you think human behaviour has changed in the centuries since then? THOUGHT STARTERS He stopped laughing and looked at me over the rim of his glass, his gaze unsteady. ‘Here we are. What an extraordinary life you’ve lived, my lady. Divine Will is the only explanation for it.’ I nodded. That’s what they say about me in all the courts of Europe. My background is the running joke that always puts envoys in a good mood. ~ Sometimes, at night, I dreamt of Olga. Had it been she who had kept me at bay, never confiding in me or asking me for pity, or had I stayed away from her instinctively, lest her bad luck might spread, trying to survive just like everybody else here? ~ Rasia Menshikova was no beauty, though like Daria she covered her face in the fashion of Moscow in a thick layer of chalk-white paste and powder, whilst crimson paint enhanced her lips and cheeks. Her eyebrows and lashes were tinted black. But she had a kind word for everyone, listened more than she spoke and held herself straight, so that her bodice would push up what little cleavage she had. She was a wise woman. ~ It was your average evening at court: a dwarf wrapped in bright ribbons jumped out of a pie in the early hours of the morning. We all pulled him this way and that, making him spin like a top, until he finally stumbled around the room stark naked. He was every bit as adorable as the Princess Cherkassy’s little drunken lap-dog, which was given bowl upon bowl of the sparkling wine the Tsar had ordered especially from France. ~ I shall never forget my horror at first sight of the battlefield of Poltava. The plains outside the city’s walls were covered with corpses or the maimed remains of what had once been human beings. Vultures already circled in the sky and crows cowered in the trees, waiting patiently for their turn. Wild dogs dragged body parts away, fighting over limbs. I slowed my mare, afraid to trample any still-living, but wounded soldiers. Bloodstained hands reached out to me and begged for a kind word or pleaded for a sip of water, a doctor, a last sight of their beloved or their mother. ~ How wonderful life was; I neither wanted to sleep, nor to cover myself, nor eat. My love refreshed, warmed and nourished me. I knew this must never happen again. ~ This is the way it should be: Peter is dead. My beloved husband, the mighty Emperor and Tsar of all the Russias, has died, and not a moment too soon. .