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The True Memoirs of Little K
The True Memoirs of Little K: A Novel | Adrienne Sharp
6 posts | 5 read | 27 to read
Exiled in Paris, tiny, one-hundred-year-old Mathilde Kschessinska sits down to write her memoirs before all that she believes to be true is forgotten. A lifetime ago, she was the vain, ambitious, impossibly charming prima ballerina assoluta of the tsar's Russian Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. Now, as she looks back on her tumultuous life, she can still recall every slight she ever suffered, every conquest she ever made. Kschessinka's riveting storytelling soon thrusts us into a world lost to time: that great intersection of the Russian court and the Russian theater. Before the revolution, Kschessinska dominated that world as the greatest dancer of her age. At seventeen, her crisp, scything technique made her a star. So did her romance with the tsarevich Nicholas Romanov, soon to be Nicholas II. It was customary for grand dukes and sons of tsars to draw their mistresses from the ranks of the ballet, but it was not customary for them to fall in love. The affair could not endure: when Nicholas ascended to the throne as tsar, he was forced to give up his mistress, and Kschessinska turned for consolation to his cousins, two grand dukes with whom she formed an infamous mnage trois. But when Nicholas's marriage to Alexandra wavered after she produced girl after girl, he came once again to visit his Little K. As the tsar's empireone that once made up a third of the worldbegan its fatal crumble, Kschessinka's devotion to the imperial family would be tested in ways she could never have foreseen. In Adrienne Sharp's magnificently imagined novel, the last days of the three-hundred-year-old Romanov empire are relived. Through Kschessinska's memories of her own triumphs and defeats, we witness the stories that changed history: the seething beginnings of revolution, the blindness of the doomed court, the end of a grand, decadent way of life that belonged to the nineteenth century. Based on fact, The True Memoirs of Little K is historical fiction as it's meant to be written: passionately eventful, crammed with authentic detail, and alive with emotions that resonate still.
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Deblovestoread
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#BookedinTime #February #HailtheBail

I tried print and audio. A whole lot of telling going on and I‘m bored. I think I‘d be better off reading Mathilda Kschessinska‘s own Dancing in Petersburg.

@Cuilin @dabbe

Cuilin Absolutely #hailthebail I hope you have better luck with other prompts. 🫶 7mo
dabbe The BAIL is on our spreadsheeting. #hailingthatbailing 🤩 7mo
46 likes2 comments
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Deblovestoread
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Thank you @Jas16 for the surprise book mail. So excited to read this one! You totally made my day!

Jas16 Glad it arrived safely! I hope you enjoy it. 5y
24 likes1 comment
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EmilieGR
Pickpick

Light but sweet

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Reviewsbylola
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What if your #excalling was royalty? Mathilde Kschessinska and Tsar Nicholas II were lovers before Nicholas went on to marry Empress Alexandra. Mathilde, a professional ballerina, didn‘t hear from Nicholas until he had become discouraged by all the girl babies he was siring with Alix, at which time he came crawling back. The book is written from the perspective of Mathilde at age 100, as she looks back on her life. I read this ages ago. #aprella

Cinfhen Ohhh; I like the sound of this one!!! 7y
emilyhaldi Sounds fascinating!!! #stacked 7y
LeahBergen This sounds like a fun one. 👍🏻 7y
See All 7 Comments
erzascarletbookgasm Sounds interesting. At the age of 100, wow 7y
Kalalalatja Stacked! 7y
Mdargusch Wait so it‘s an historical novel or a memoir? 7y
Reviewsbylola Historical fact based fiction. @Mdargusch 7y
111 likes8 stack adds7 comments
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LauraBeth
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For Litsy's Historical Fiction readers: Here we have the last days of the Romanov Empire + Ballet as "remembered" by the mistress of Nicholas II, a prima ballerina in the Russian Imperial Ballet.

#letsdance #septembowie

Bookcation74 I really liked this one! 7y
Cinfhen 👍🏻 😊💕 7y
rockpools I like the sound of this one! 7y
DGRachel Ooh, that sounds good! 7y
drbethandherkindle Ooooh, yes please!! 7y
107 likes14 stack adds5 comments