This novel is a fictionalised account of a real historical Ukrainian girl, Natasha Durova, who fought disguised as a man (Alexandrov) in Tsar Alexander's army fighting against Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. Natasha grows to love the military life from a very young age as her father tours the Empire on his duties and later runs away from home to join the army. The bulk of this novel is actually about Tsar Alexander as he grows up, his relationship with his grandmother Catherine the Great and his father, the mad Emperor Paul. Durova/Alexandrov disappears for large portions of the novel and sometimes came across to me as a bit of an afterthought. While this was a good read, I thought it lacked the beauty and atmosphere of Lafferty's other novel, I've read, the Shepherdess of Siena. I have several more of hers, though, which I will certainly look forward to. ( )

Long review to follow. Brilliant book ( )

exceptional historian fiction. the main character is based on a real life biography of this young girl and her life during the tone of the Czar and Napoleon. It tells you what happened and what might of happened..very good read for those that like historical fiction. ( )

The girl who fought Napolean is really 2 stories in one. The story of Nadezha/Nadya Durova, a daring warrior ahead of her times and the young Czar Alexander I. Nadya doesn't want to become a housewife but disguises herself as a boy who joins the Russian cavalry to fight in the Napoleanic wars. It's also the story of the young, somewhat reluctant Czar, inheriting the position upon the assassination of his father.
The story is written in alternating chapters that go back and forth in time. Some readers do not like this style, but I always have. It is difficult to follow at first, making it difficult to get into, but it's well worth the diligence. The descriptions of the bloody battles and Russian history are rich in detail and quite intriguing. The reader gets to see war through 2 different perspectives, the down in the trenches brutally vivid perspective of Nadya on the field and the Czar's from afar.
To find that Nadya is an actual historic figure is an added bonus, I'm always fascinated by brave women such as her. The Russian history has always been a draw, well ever since Dr. Zhivago hit the screen. The descriptions of the Russian countryside, winters, courts and people make you feel as though you are there. Linda Lafferty does an excellent job of character development, at times you love and then hate Nadya. It's one of those books that sticks in the mind long after you've read that final page. ( )

I have long been fascinated with Russia. I took two years of Russian in high school (which, so many years later, leaves me capable of the names of a couple of animals, fruits, please, thank-you, "My name is...," and the like). I took a "Russian-Soviet Life" class in high school and a "Russia to 1900" class in college. I have read many of the Russian greats and a few of the banned Soviets as well. So this novel of the Russian Empire, set in the waning years of Catherine the Great, her son Paul I, and grandson Alexander I's rules, was something I knew would sustain my interest. Finding out that the premise of a girl who fled her home and joined the Russian cavalry to fight Napoleon was based on a true story made it all that much more appealing.

Nadezhda Durova is born to a Russian army officer and his Ukrainian wife. A disappointment to her mother, she grows up wild and indulged while her family follows the drum. When he father finally retires, she is suddenly faced with her mother's strictures and ideas of how a proper lady comports herself. Chafing under this contained life, Nadezhda runs away in the middle of the night on her magnificent steed, Alcides. Dressed as a Cossack, she conspires to join the army in the guise of a young boy named Aleksandr. Throughout the years, she serves with honor and bravery, eventually taking part in the horrific Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon. As Nadezhda grows up and joins the army, the young Grand Duke Alexander is also growing up in St. Petersburg in his grandmother Catherine the Great's household. He is groomed to become Tsar, witness to and victim of the great animosity between his father and his grandmother. Political machinations mold and form his adolescence and young adulthood as he is thrust into a position he never desired. Nadezhda escapes the life that society would impress on her but the Tsar cannot so easily run away from his responsibilities.

The novel is told from Nadezhda's first person perspective and third person limited from Alexander I's with a few short bits focused on Napoleon. Generally the shifts occur from chapter to chapter but occasionally, and slightly confusingly, they happen within a chapter as well. The narrative is not a straight chronology either, at least in the beginning when the reader needs to pay close attention to the date headings on the chapters to figure out where in history the story is, as well as which character is dominating the story line. Although the two major story lines start off quite far apart, they do eventually cross over each other in a somewhat surprising way. Despite their intersection, they still generally felt like two different novels rather than a completely integrated whole. The Russian history was well researched and seeing Alexander I's struggles with his position, his guilt over his father's death, and his almost platonic relationship with his own wife was interesting indeed. Nadezhda's story, unknown as it seems to be here in the West, was even more interesting. Her rebellion against society and the narrow life that she could expect to lead as a woman was completely understandable and her accounts of war and the suffering of the troops was brutal. The story was generally engaging with one exception: the unexpected revelation at the end of the novel comes out of the blue and although it apparently follows the very late revelation in the real Nadezhda Durova's memoir, it is confusing and disruptive for the reader. Aside from that though, anyone interested in the life of a woman who fashions herself as she wants to be or in the years of the Romanov dynasty that this encompasses will certainly enjoy this expansive novel. ( )