3.5 out of 5 stars

I am not sure if this book is not engaging or if I am just not that interested in the subject. The book is well-researched, and the writing is well done, but I could not fully engage myself into this book.

"The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had", follows the life of Julie of Saxe-Coburg, a German princess and future aunt of Queen Victoria. As a young girl, Julie was married off to Konstantin, the second grandson of Catherine the Great of Russia. Forced to leave her home, change her religion, and marry a man she never met, Julie did not face an easy life. The hardest part came from Julie’s husband, who’s erratic and abusive behavior led her to great suffering. Julie managed to get away from her husband, but her struggles continued. Although Julies faced troubles, she was a German princess and lived a life of privilege, and under different circumstances, she could have been an empress of Russia.

Helen Rappaport takes the reader on a journey through Julie of Saxe-Coburg’s life. Even though the sources on Julie are scarce, Rappaport manages to weave a compelling narrative of her life. Because many of the sources did not come from Julie, some speculation had to be made to tell a complete story. This did not take away from the narrative. This book manages to shed light on the life of a lesser-known person. I had no knowledge of Julie of Saxe-Coburg before picking up this book. I learned a lot about the political and social drama of eighteenth and nineteenth century Russia from reading this book.

Even though I struggled to get into this book, I thought it contained a well-written narrative. Rappaport did an excellent job of detailing Julie’s life and painting a picture of the situation in Russia and other parts of Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I do not believe there is much to critique about this work. It was well-researched and informative. It just failed to capture my complete interest.

Courtesy of St. Martin's Press and Netgalley, I received the ARC of The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappapprt. This extremely well researched non fiction book is about Julie of Saxe Coburg, who was married to Prince Konstantin of Russia at the age of 14. Covering the 18th and 19th centuries of European and Russian nobility and history, the arranged marriages created alliances of influence and property, while maintaining family loyalty. Julie, known for her beauty and graciousness, had a troubled marriage, but retained her exuberance for religion, music, and friends, seeking privacy in Switzerland. I appreciated the descriptions of travel and castles, while learning about these royal families.

I've always been a fan of the Romanovs and this was a fascinating look into 'the rebel Romanov.' As someone who thought I knew almost everything about the family and that period in history, I learned a lot. Highly recommend for fans of history!

Another amazing book by Helen Rappaport. I always turn to her for Russian or Russia-adjacent biographies. This one unfortunately wasn’t super “exciting” in the traditional sense that tons went on, but it was interesting to see how Juli and the Saxe-Coburgs were just connected to everything.

I have two negatives. I feel like having a biography about her goes against Juli’s wishes to fade into obscurity that is mentioned multiple times. I also really wish that the notes at the end of the chapter linked and we had the family tree even if this is an ARC.

Like so many other women in their mid-thirties, I'm extremely interested in the Romanov family. I didn't know anything about Princess Julie of Saxe-Coburg, and her story was fascinating. Rappaport has written great books about the Romanovs in years past and this was a great addition.

Why on Earth does Rappaport need the figleaf of "allegedly" in the book description? A very minor figure in Russian history, and invisible outside it...this is barely non-fiction, there's so much reading between the lines...who's going to troll her for "disrespecting" this nonentity?

One big reason she's been ignored by history is she didn't make any. All she did was leave a husband she detested, run off and have adventures all across Europe, and do exactly nothing for anyone not herself. Pretty much the picture-perfect spoiled princess, sort of like "Sissi" only without the heir-bearing.

Why I liked it is it gave me a fascinating glance into a family that ought to be much netter studied: The Saxe-Coburg ducal dynasty, a branch of the Bavarian royals, the Wettins. Shake a royal family tree and a bunch of 'em will fall out. I mean, a branch of 'em is still on the throne of the United Kingdom and another of that of Belgium. Their close cousins used to be rulers of Portugal and Bulgaria. They were the mothers of Romanov tsars, and countless other royals, from the early 18th century onwards.

It's thrown into stark relief that, when reading this book, the long shadow of Napoleon and more generally the upheavals in France from 1789 forward have made a heavy screen against the study and awareness of the rest of Europe's eventful history at this time. Julie's peripatetic life, though little enough noted, did leave some personal traces. These are presented in their context so I got a good grounding in events seen from the not-Napoleon side. Dynastic marriages, border disputes resolved thereby, things about the power politics of the time I hadn't really been aware enough of to know I didn't know about them, all form this story's backdrop.

What this wasn't, however, was a spicy, entertaining, gossipy book about an interesting woman who had the principles to abandon a luxe life. That's what the title suggested I was going to get; it's a good, illuminating history of a time from an angle new to me. It's not juicy or gossipy. Much about this poor woman and her life was simply not worth risking the ire of Imperial Russia to preserve. I suspect this absence of source material is a calculated act by agents of the Romanovs, to disguise the extremely awful way this poor thing was treated by all and sundry in their court, and by her own family to disguise their sale of one of their own into what amounted to slavery (albeit gilded by trappings of wealth) to save their own hold on political power.

A survivor, this lady was; a rebel, not so much based on this story as told here.
NB My blogged review has links to sources and definitions.

I love this time period in history. It just amazes me how much we actually know and how much is missing.

Julie led a very unique life. She married so very young to the an heir to the Russian Throne. She married Constantine, Catherine the Great’s grand child. But life was not easy for her. She had to deal with learning a new religion and all the new rules for an Empress of Russia. Plus, her husband was very abusive. She begged to leave on numerous occasions. She was finally granted her wish to leave Russia. Julie proceeded to live her life as she wanted.

I had no idea about Julie. She was a person who went after what she wanted when she was supposed to conform and be submissive. I loved learning about her and everything she went through to live her life.

The narrator, Jennifer M. Dixon, had some tough pronunciations to tackle. She handled it like a pro!

Need a well researched book about a woman ahead of her time…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this audiobook from the publisher for a honest review.

The book is very well-researched. And I learned a great deal about a historical figure (albeit minor) who I had no idea existed. But the writing was dry, and I never felt fully connected to Julie as a person. Which was likely because we don't have much of Julie's correspondence. I'll be honest, I feel misled by the title. When I see "rebel", I think rebel on a grander scale not a person one.

Julie Saxe Coburg was selected by Catherine the Great to marry her grandson. This led Julie to a court that was filled with intrigue and, unfortunately, not the best husband.

How did Julie cope? Not in the way that most women in her time did.

Julie had a life that was quite full if not always easy. Learn more about her in this well written biography. Its author is an expert in her field.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I enjoyed it. I didn’t read the description clearly it seems, b/c I was expecting a way different outcome. While it was still a sad story, it wasn’t as sad as it would have been. I know a bit about the Romanov family, but this was an interesting story about someone who married into the family and really shouldn’t have. You have to wonder if Julie had married someone else, how would her life had turned out? And it was wrong of the family not to tell her what Konstantin was really like. The way women were treated was abysmal and I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been for them. I recommend this book if you like historical non-fiction. *I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

A fascinating slice of royal history with a rebellious heart. Julie’s story is equal parts heartbreaking and empowering—she defied expectations and chose freedom over a crown. If you love untold stories of bold women who dared to live on their own terms, this one’s for you.

As I read The Rebel Romanov I kept pondering what it was like to live during this time frame of arranged marriages, marrying nieces, being forced into loveless abusive marriages - no wonder so many died at such young ages! My heart went out to Julia immediately - Konstantin was truly a nightmare as a husband. I couldn’t help but shudder when this young naive innocent girl finally realized who she had married. I cannot imagine traveling to a different country, with a drastic religion change, having my name changed and having to learn the rules of a new court, then being left there as a very young girl to deal with an arranged marriage. I cheered when she finally moved to Switzerland but was saddened that she was never able to live her life on her own terms. The stress caused by her marriage must have been at the root of her many many illnesses. She must have been quite a magnetic woman - beautiful and vivacious according to many of the sources throughout her life. That being said, I kept waiting to read about how she shaped life at court or the impact she had on history but have to admit that other than being connected to many other names I have heard and read about that did not seem to be the case.
Thanks to Helen Rappaport for introducing me to Julia and giving me so much information on her life. At times I have to admit that I struggled with keeping the many characters straight. Having the footnotes at the end of the chapters helped somewhat in making the connections between many of the characters.
Many thanks to Helen Rappaport, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this recently published book.

The Rebel Romanov is a curious read in a number of ways. It’s curious in that its subject, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, is someone you probably haven’t heard of. It’s curious in how it depicts her. And it’s curious in its choice of title.

Julie (as she’s called in this book) reminded me a lot of that titular old movie character Zelig. Like him, Julie is adjacent to some of the major events of history in the early 1800s—the Napoleonic Wars, the English royal succession crisis, the creation of Belgium—but she’s not really involved with them. Instead, she’s primarily known for one thing: escaping a terrible marriage to a Russian grand duke.

Exactly how terrible, it’s hard to say. When her friends and family mentioned it, it was always in allusive terms. And for Rappaport, this must have been a challenge. On almost all fronts, there’s very little direct information about Julie; she burned much of her correspondence and asked those to whom she wrote to do so as well. The Rebel Romanov is full of “she must have thought” or “she might have wanted” kinds of statements. For a book about a woman who lived amid so much, The Rebel Romanov has a curiously hollow feel to it.

The title also seemed odd; Julie’s one act of “rebellion” was to escape her awful marriage. And that wasn’t so much a rebellion as it was an avoidance. She just kept creating excuses not to return to Russia once she left. Julie also came across as a retiring character. I picked up that she was beautiful and kind and liked music, and that was about it.

After a while, this book became a litany of secondary characters, some of whom had more interesting stories because they had more agency than Julie. The Rebel Romanov will interest those who want to know more about Russia, Germany, and Prussia during this time, but the woman at its center remained a mystery to me even after reading a few hundred pages about her.

The Rebel Romanov, by Helen Rappaport, is the sad story of a German princess from an aristocratic family of limited means who becomes the wife of Empress Catherine the Great's grandson in her early teens. Both families looked to gain financially and politically while the interests of the young people were of little concern. Based on the title, I think I expected more of this ill-fated princess. Though very real, her rebellion was entirely personal. She was horribly abused by almost every person from whom she had good reason to expect sympathy and protection, She had extramarital affairs. She left Russia. She found a new home in Europe. The writing is excellent. Despite herculean research, original source material was destroyed, leaving the author dependent on third party accounts and speculating about what the main characters might have felt. This might have worked better as historical fiction. Not for the first time, I was appalled by the Romanovs and European royalty in general. I was also bored. I didn't care much for the detailed accounts of travel, ball gowns, or castles. While I cannot fully recommend this book, I am very appreciative of the opportunity to read and digital ARC. Thank you NetGalley, St.Martin's Press, and the author.

She was her family's ticket to power, money and influence.

Once upon a time there lived a young girl of noble family who caught the eye of a prince. What looked like a fairy tale romance became instead a nightmare, with the naive and impetuous girl trapped in a royal household with a husband who treated her badly. Both would seek love in other's arms, and their ultimate split caused shockwaves through society. Sound familiar? No, this is not the tawdry saga of Charles and Diana, it is a story far worse....the tale of the German Princess Juliane of the Saxe-Coburg family, born in 1781 and (at the age of just 14 !) married off to the Grand Duke Konstantin, grandson of Catherine the Great and third in line to the Romanov throne. In Russia she would be known as the Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, though she remained Julie to her family. Her mother Auguste had accompanied Julie and her two older sisters Sophie and Antoinette on the 40 day, 1242 mile trek by carriage from Coburt to St Petersbury so that Konstantin (and of course Catherine) could meet the three sisters and choose which of the three would be the lucky bride...and it would be Julie whom he chose. The arduousness of the family's journey would be nothing compared to the life ahead of Julie in the Romanov court, rife with court intrigue, jealousy and gossip. Worst of all was the young man who became her husband, Konstantin, who in contrast to his older brother Alexander (a diligent student and their grandmother's favorite) was prone to bouts of extreme temper as well as erratic and often violent behavior. Julie made some allies in the court but would reach the point where she wanted nothing more than to return to her family. Her station in life was too important to the family's own position and financial status for them to countenance her abandonment of her husband and they refused to allow it. In a time where the daughters of noble and royal families were considered a drain on the families' resources and were regularly used as a commodity to improve finances and/or position, Julie's life was freely offered by her parents to the Romanovs in order to achieve their own dynastic goals. That she would be able to ultimately not only leave Russia but carve out her own life while travelling through other European countries and find love on her own terms makes her a remarkable woman of her time, yet one about whom few are aware.
Author Helen Rappaport had her work cut out for her in recreating the life of Julie of Saxe-Coburg, sister to King Leopold I of Belgium, sister-in-law to Tsar Alexander I of Russia and aunt to Great Britain's Queen Victoria. Julie destroyed most of her correspondence and journals, so much of what is known of her comes from secondary sources. Despite that, the book does an excellent job of portraying the lengthy carriage journey to St Petersburg, the opulent Romanov court, and the byzantine nature of arranged royal marriages and familial and political alliances across Europe during that period. While Julie herself was not someone who created history per se, it was her alliance with the Romanov court that would enable her siblings (both financially and through their new proximity to the Imperial Russian Court) to make fortuitous matches which would in fact do so. She was a rebel in a personal way, choosing her personal freedoms and well-being over financial security and acceptance in polite society. It was an interesting read, introducing me to a woman about whom I knew nothing. At times the preponderance of facts weighed down the narrative, but Julie intrigued me enough to keep going. Readers of Alison Weir, Robert K. Massie and Coryne Hall as well as those who are interested in learning a heretofore obscure bit of Russian history should give The Rebel Romanov a try. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me access to this well-researched historical biography of a woman who was able to set aside the duty imposed upon her and seek happiness on her own terms.

I've never had much luck with nonfiction, but the amount of research that went into this is truly impressive. It's probably worth giving another shot.

The Romanovs have always held a fascination in history. So much of the world's royalty at one time were members of the Romanovs. With the many intrigues accredited to this family, a large section of teh era's population were kin to them in one way or another. I'd not read any in depth history of Julie and found Helen Rappaport's detailed descriptions of her life an enjoyable read that added so many pieces to the puzzle.

I had a tough time rating this one, but ultimately I felt that this book had a lot of potential that just wasn't met.

Julie is the daughter of Franz and Auguste of Saxe-Coburg, a somewhat struggling German principality. She gets married off to Konstantin, the brother to the heir of the Russian throne (and thus becoming the granddaughter-in-law of Catherine the Great, who strategized the match). However, Konstantin is awful; Julie winds up returning to Europe and living the rest of her life there, mostly in Switzerland.

There are many points of intrigue here. Her life in the Russian court is brief but fascinating. She winds up having two (possibly three) illegitimate children, has affairs with multiple married men. Konstantin tries to reconcile with her, which could possibly have led to her becoming Tsarina (but maybe not). She has money problems. She's living through the Napoleonic Wars. Her niece and nephew are Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her homes essentially become satellite Russian courts. Her brother becomes the King of Belgium. She may have had an affair with her brother-in-law Alexander, the tsarevitch. Her mother-in-law is the WORST.

The problem, though, is that while Rappaport's research is impeccable, not a ton is left from Julie's own point of view; she was big into burning correspondence and requested that others do the same. Rappaport mentions letters Julie has written, but the only ones to survive are the more anodyne ones and aren't quoted. So while a lot that's interesting is happening, the book is mostly details of Julie's illnesses and houses and guests. (I also struggled a bit because, reading this as an ARC, the family trees weren't yet included, so I couldn't reference the the way I wanted to!) We get hints of the good stuff, but Rappaport never delves into it. And Julie is only a rebel inasmuch that she left her husband, but then she...just kind of lived pretty quietly. The book also is quite detailed while Julie is in Russia, but then time moves inconsistently, with a lot of time jumps that are somewhat glossed over.

I will say that this would be the basis for a FANTASTIC tv series that can play with the truth in a way that Rappaport can't. And it gives an interesting look into life during the first half of the 19th century in Europe; I'd recommend to people interested in that era, and to people interested in the various intertwined European monarchies.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader copy!

🌟The Rebel Romanov is almost a masterclass in who's who and how the European royals were intricately connected. I found it particularly interesting to learn about the House of Saxe-Coburg and how they came to influence, if not outright rule, much of Europe and Russia, both directly and indirectly.

Though this book centers on Julie of Saxe-Coburg, it’s just as much about her mother, Auguste, also Queen Victoria’s grandmother. It’s fascinating to see how the trait of matchmaking seemed to pass from Auguste down to Victoria. Julie’s story, however, is the true heart of the book. It’s a heartbreaking tale: a vibrant, sparkling woman gradually turned reclusive by circumstance until her very existence nearly faded from the historical record.🌟

🕜The book is impressively well-researched, especially considering the limited material available. Despite the presence of many powerful historical figures, Julie’s story remains central and isn’t overshadowed, something that speaks to the author’s skill. Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, or Juliane, comes across as someone unfairly judged by history for daring to demand freedom and seek love and partnership.🕜

Thank you to St.Martin's Press for this book.

This book was just okay for me. I’m not a big reader of non-fiction but I was hoping it would read more like a story. I found it difficult to get through at times and a bit dense. However I think for someone who enjoys non-fiction this would be great. Julie Saxe-Coburg had a very atypical life for the times and I love that she made her escape from her awful husband and never looked back. It is nice to hear the details of her relationships and her attempts to live life on her own terms. I was gifted an e-copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.