German Woman [Print on Demand (Paperback)]

Janet Ashton (Author)

Product Details

• Print on Demand (Paperback): 332 pages
• Publisher: Unknown (June 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848460031
• ISBN-13: 978-1848460034
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,822,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre History Meets Medicore Writing, April 1, 2009

By 

CSK "CK" (Phx, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: German Woman (Print on Demand (Paperback))

Not a terrible book, but not good either. Fictionalized history is always tough to create, but this story is made for fictionalized drama and emotion. It is possible to make heartbrake, murder and tragedy boring? Obviously yes. At first it seemed that the book's biggest fault were all the poorly constructed sentences and typographic mistakes. Was the author trying to be true to her character, Alexandra, and speak in a personalized, realistic narrative? No, it was just bad writing and editing. Overall, the book seems like a fictionalized version of "Tragedy at Ekaterinburg", with a daily synopsis of the family's life at the Ipatiev House...just without the historical accuracy. Read "Tragedy" instead, it is much better and not quite so boring. Do you think that Alexandra would be so bland or unemotional about her son's hemophilia or Rasputin? Overall, just a mediocre time waster that could have had great potential.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE GERMAN WOMAN BY JANET ASHTON, July 20, 2008

By 

Horace (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: German Woman (Print on Demand (Paperback))

I write this review, rather poignantly, just a day before the 90th anniversary of the murder of the entire Romanov family in the basement of a house in Ekaterinburg, Siberia. This tragedy will be marked in Ekaterinburg, in Russia, and probably all over the world. Interest in this story is huge and there are myriad books out there to be bought. Like this book, many are fictionalised accounts. But this fictionalised account is a rare thing, very historically accurate.

"The German Woman" is the story of Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and wife of the last Tsar of Russia. She is in exile, writing of her thoughts and memories about her life, probably in her diary. The Tsarina certainly kept a diary though it was usually full of one-liners about the weather. But that is probably because she wrote a lot elsewhere to her many relatives and her husband, much of which has been published. Ashton has concentrated hard on these documents and I think her greatest achievement with her book is to have captured the genuine style and feel of Alexandra's writing. Her voice really rings true - even down to the use of nicknames and phrases, and the attitudes and opinions that she propounds.

Ashton has certainly done her historical research too. I have spent years reading around the subject of the Romanovs and would spot any kind of "Hollywood licence" used in this book to make it read more easily. There is none. The book tells Alexandra's life story from her early childhood with Queen Victoria, right through until the last days in Ekaterinburg. That's a large expanse of history and a good few facts to sort through. And no mistakes I could spot.

Ashton has used the tried and tested formula of flashback to tell the story. Though this could be seen as clichéd, she weaves past and present together very well. The first few chapters set both scenes. And then she just concentrates on telling Alexandra's tale chronologically. It reads well and easily. It is a page-turner, not a history book full of dry facts and dates. I read the book during several train journeys and found myself totally absorbed and in danger of missing my stops. There was a moving passage towards the end of the book that reduced me to tears - fortunately there was no one sitting next to me at that point.

I would recommend this book really to anyone - it's what you want it to be. A good read on a tedious journey, a lesson in history, a historical novel, even a romance as the story of Nicholas and Alexandra was, in real life, a romance. You won't be wasting your money if you buy.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Treat, July 24, 2008

By 

G. Haskin (Bay Area CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: German Woman (Print on Demand (Paperback))

Artfully combining fact and fiction, Janet Ashton has produced that rare quantity -- a splendid page turner of a novel steeped in history and rich in detail.