A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia

This was an immensely enjoyable and fascinating book from beginning to end. The author certainly did a superlative job in gathering and presenting the facts and placing them in a very skillful and compelling narrative. So often history comes across as dull and lifeless, but not here. Sullivan has a rare talent for dramatic construction and detail which ignites the story and makes it fascinating to follow. I really enjoyed his character descriptions and the clever way he created the time and place and unique sensibility of a long-passed era. I find many of the critiques here rather difficult to comprehend. Maybe some readers had been misled or misinformed as to what type of book they would be reading. For some of the more vicious reviews, I can only assume these readers would be more at home in a ultra-hip and downbeat modern subject matter. Certainly Victoria Melita was no beauty by our current standards, but the author fully explains this and only references her in the then estimations and standards of her own era. These rather mean-spirited and extremely carping criticisms aside, I think anyone who wants to read a wonderfully written historical biography will fully appreciate this book and not be disappointed.

"A FATAL PASSION" is without a doubt the very best biography I have ever read. The author had a magically way of sweeping you up in the historical period of the l870s - l930's and made one feel as if they were actually living through these exciting events and viewing the splendor of this privileged lost world. Being so very well written and with an elegant flowing style that made every character and every description enthralling and compelling, the book was almost impossible to put down every night when I read it at bedtime. The author's great gift for pulling you into the book's special world may be testified by the fact that every night when I finally did go to bed I dreamt of the book and had visions of what Mr. Sullivan had been describing. I now have finally finished the book and feel such a great loss. It's like a very close friend has died. But I've gained an invaluable insight into what it was like to be one of the very few royal elites during a time when it meant everything, and I've also been educated in the details of European and Russian history while enjoying a story that was far more exciting than any you could see on TV or in the movies. I'm so glad that a friend told me about this book. If I have one complaint about it, it is that it caused me to lose a great deal of sleep - I could never manage to put it down at night and rarely went to sleep before 3am!

If you liked Robert Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" as much as I did, you'll love "A Fatal Passion" even more. The fall of imperial Russia is really the definitive event of our century, and as fascinating as the saga of Nicholas II certainly is, the story of his cousin and successor is even more riveting. This is a completely engrossing story, told here for the first time, to my knowledge, and anyone who has an interest in Nicholas and Alexandra and the fall of the Romanovs simply MUST READ THIS BOOK. This is the last chapter of the Russian imperial tragedy, and it is NOT TO BE MISSED!

What a pleasure it was to have such a physically beautiful book. The cover is gorgeous, and every aspect of it's production was done with the most exquisite skill and taste. I love having it on my coffee table. And, needless to say, I enjoyed reading it even more. I cried at the end. It was so moving and so well researched that I felt I was living Victoria Melita's thrilling life.

Our book club read Fatal Passion and all of us agreed what the great secret was at the end involving Ducky's husband and what Queen Marie swore never to reveal. I won't state it here, as it will spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it. But once you do read this excellent biography, I think you will come to the same conclusion that I and my friends did. Just a clue - "history repeats itself." I also loved the titles of the chapters, so amusing and cleverly descriptive. This is an emotionally riveting book written with great verve and a poetic flow.