I’m going on a cruise to St Petersburg, Russia. Looking for recommendations of historical fiction.
I’m going on a cruise to St Petersburg, Russia next year. Looking for recommendations of historical fiction.
63 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
Susanna Kearsley’s Firebird
This isn’t a book recommendation but I went there many years ago. Beautiful city and the hermitage was wonderful.
City of Thieves.
Yes! Loved this book.
a gentleman in moscow? i haven’t read it yet but it has been on all sorts of lists so i bought it ??
It’s a great book, but nothing about St. Petersburg.
Loved it
https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Penguin-Classics-Tolstoy/dp/0140447938
There’s always Tolstoy.
The Madonnas of Leningrad. One of my all time favorites.
The Madonnas of Leningrad. One of my all time favorites.
The Bronze Horseman
@Catherine yes!!!!
I just came home from the Viking River Cruise in Russia. It was awesome!!! You will have an awesome time.
@Carolyn we want to do that too. Did you take any pre or post cruise extensions?
No, we could have extended with 4 days in Helsinki, but decided not to. After it was all said and done, 2 weeks was enough for me. I don’t think I could have enjoyed any more. I guess I’m not 19 anymore! LOL
@Carolyn I’m with you there.
The Snow Leopard.
The Bronze Horseman – it’s a trilogy but the first one is enough. I saw the statue in St Petersburg after reading the book.
Estonia too?
Talinn is a great city!
I can’t recommend fiction, but a biography of Catherine would be great background. I did a cruise that went to St P a few yrs ago. Hope you get to visit the Hermitage and the summer palace. The opulence is unbelievable.
Only going to see Hermitage and Palace. Bucket list trip
Peter the Great or Nicholas and Alexandra both by Robert Massie. Fascinating. Both read like a novel. The leaders who made St Petersburg one of the greatest cities.
@Beverly also Catherine the Great by Massie. Wonderful biography too.
@Elaine Oh, yes! I forgot about that one. Loved it.
White Nights by Dostoyevsky
The Siege by Helen Dunsmore or Dinsmore. Great book set during WW2.
Dr. Zhivago. Brothers Karamazov. 2 pretty deep books. Allow yourself a big chunk of time to get through them.
The Romanov Empress by C.W. Gortner was recently published and I really enjoyed it.
@Krista I loved it and even though it was a fiction it was pretty accurate historically, at least according to wikipedia.
@Elaine Agreed! I learned a lot about European history, especially the inne-connectedness of European royalty.
Russian Winter. Zoya. Dr. Zhivago.
I can’t remember… I’ve seen a few fiction books with Stalin and Stalingrad.
The Bronze Horseman
“In a city by the sea which was once called St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, then, much later, St. Petersburg again, there stood a long, thin house on a long, thin street. By a long, thin window, a child in a pale blue dress and pale green slippers waited for a bird to marry her.”
― catherynne m valente, Deathless
Russka by Edward Rutherfurd
I’m reading his book Paris now!
@Davida how is it?
@Megan Well… I’m kind of surprised at how engaging it is. He moves from one era to another, and the cast of characters is pretty large, but I’m not at all confused! I don’t usually read such “door stopper” sized books, but a friend gave it to me and said “read just the first 10 pages and if you’re not hooked, then give it back to me”! That’s what I did and I was hooked!
How about… The Glass Ocean (the about the Lusitania), A Fist around the Heart (about the Titanic), and Flight of Dreams (about the Hindenburg)?
When I suggested a book about the Lusitania to my cousin on a cruise his comment indicated that a cruise was not the time to read about sinking ships 🙂
The Madonnas ofLeningrad
Russka, by Rutherford.
A Gentleman from Moscow.
Somehow I can’t say that the Bronze Horseman is good because to me it wasn’t like that. Maybe because I live in Finland and half of my family is from st. Petersburg, Russia, it makes so hard sometimes to read books even fictions where timetable or places aren’t faithful for places etc. So there is books which I have liked.
Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore is one of the best non-fiction book or other books by he. Red Notice by Bill Bowder and A Russian Diary by Anna Politkovskaya were quite interesting books also with Rosemary Sullivan’s book for Stalin’s daughter.
Fiction:
-Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
-Dostojevsky
-Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden
-The Jewel of St. Petersburg, Russian concubine and The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall
-Anastasia’s Secret by Susanne Dunlap
-The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin
-Not sure if there is translated book by Anniina Tarasova in English, because it is finnish book.
-With Estonia there is the Purge by Sofi Oksanen which is quite good book and also many other books by Oksanen. And in Finland we have so many books which subjects are Russia, Soviet Union or things like that. Maybe because our history with and without Russia.
-The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Anna Akhmatova
-The Conqueror’s Wife by Stephanie Thornton
Great observation and list! I too want timetables and especially places to be faithful in historic fiction. I would add some Gogal and Checkhov. Suggest Best Russian Short Stories available on kindle.
Yes and of course I need say that Daniil Kharms and his books are quite good also. Somehow quite similars than Gogol’s the Nose or Checkhov’ books.
I agree that The Bronze Horseman was a bit tedious, especially since I read all three books. But the first book made me appreciate the hardships in Leningrad during WWII.
Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky). You can walk along canals and see where the event “were happening”
Russka by Edward Rutherford. Outstanding book.
The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall
That’s so weird! I was going to suggest the exact same book!
I love it, its one of my favorites
My current favorite “A Gentleman in Moscow”! I love this book! And I almost forgot my forever favorite….”Dr. Zhivago”!
Night Witches about a young girl joining the women Russian pilot core.
If you’re willing to read nonfiction that reads like fiction, try Dead Wake by Erik Larson. Fascinating and true.
A gentelman in moscow
Anna Karenina, Tolstoy
Winter garden by Kristin Hannah.
The Passion Of Marie Romanov
We are watching a new series on Amazon Prine called the Romanov’s. We love it and highly recommend it.