Reviews

“‘The personal is political’ might well be applied to Queen Victoria and her descendants, as, over the course of her reign, she negotiated multiple marriage alliances with other royal families and earned herself the nickname ‘the Grandmother of Europe.’ Here, McHugh (A Most English Princess, 2020) explores the struggles of two of Victoria’s granddaughters, Elisabeth and Alix of Hesse, sisters who defied their grandmother’s expectations and married into the ultimately doomed Russian, imperial Romanov family. McHugh cleaves closely to historical fact and presents a pleasantly engrossing delve into the dynastic complexities of European royalty, with some subtle foreshadowing of the unhappy fates of her two protagonists. Those who are unfazed by a daunting cast of characters and who appreciate a domestic flavor to their historical fiction will enjoy this view of Queen Victoria’s family and the sensitively imagined emotions and inner landscapes of the Hesse sisters as they strive to forge their own fates.”
— Mel Bruecks for Booklist