AUTHORS INTERVIEWING CHARACTERS: Ellen Alpsten Interviews Tsarina

Lover, murder, mother, Tsarina. Memoirs of a Geisha meets Game of Thrones in this page-turning epic charting the untold story – the extraordinary rags-to-riches tale of Catherine I

Spring 1699: Illegitimate, destitute and strikingly beautiful, Marta has survived the brutal Russian winter in her remote Baltic village. Sold by her family into household labour at the age of fifteen, Marta survives by committing a crime that will force her to go on the run. 

A world away, Russia’s young ruler, Tsar Peter I, passionate and iron-willed, has a vision for transforming the traditionalist Tsardom of Russia into a modern, Western empire. Countless lives will be lost in the process. 

Falling prey to the Great Northern War, Marta cheats death at every turn, finding work as a washerwoman at a battle camp. One night at a celebration, she encounters Peter the Great. Relying on her wits and her formidable courage, and fuelled by ambition, desire and the sheer will to live, Marta will become Catherine I of Russia. But her rise to the top is ridden with peril; how long will she survive the machinations of Peter’s court, and more importantly, Peter himself? 

Ellen Alpsten, author of Tsarina, interviews Tsarina… 

Well, hello, Catherine The Great!

(Laughs) I am NOT Catherine The Great, but Catherine I of Russia. ‘Tsarina’ is the first and only book about me – Ellen discovered my story when aged 13, reading a book called ‘Germans and Russians’, charting the varied, entwined, and millennial history of those two people. One chapter was devoted to me, the illiterate, illegitimate serf girl who rose to be Russia’s first reigning Empress; Russia, which morphed from backward nation to superpower. Ellen had dabbled a bit in story-telling – she grew up in Kenya, where a tall tale in Technicolor is always appreciated – and writing, winning a short story competition of her Parisian Grande Ecole; yet when she had matured enough to REALLY write, she was astonished to see that there was no book about me. None at all! 

How would you explain your miraculous life story? 

My story is as contrasting as the Russian Soul itself, casually combining seemingly insurmountable contrasts: callous cruelty and overwhelming empathy; overt hostility towards all things foreign, yet selfless hospitality to strangers; freezing, interminable winters – zima –, and the summers’ white nights. I grew up in an izba, a rickety hut, sleeping together with my whole family on an oven. Sold into house-hold labour, I suffered every humiliation imaginable and lost my Baltic homeland, finding a new home in the Tsar’s heart. How? Every girl needs her secrets. Peter LOVED turning the world upside down – and I exceeded any brief, setting the scene politically for an unprecedented century of female reign in Russia. 

So, what IS the secret of your success?

‘She is not beautiful, but as warm as an animal’, a foreign envoy said, meaning my indomitable spirit! My destiny has been described as the ‘ultimate Cinderella story’ but bears testimony to my will to survive. Every possible card in the world was stacked against me, but I kept going. Peter and I just clicked: he had just become single again and needed companionship.

He abhorred the cold and my embrace never lacked fire: I bore him thirteen children and accompanied him on his travels all over Russia, Central Asia, and Europe, as well as the field of the Great Northern War. Yet above all, Peter and I were great friends. I never feared him but stood up to him; I held him tightly – a giant of a man, standing seven feet tall in his boots – when he had an epileptic fit. He admired my courage and my common-sense and loved my practical jokes: countless time, we were in stitches. Many women wanted what I had, of course – but woe to who attempts to take what is mine!

Any advice you would give to modern gals? 

My story is very modern, and its moral eternal: never give up! Keep on going and trade on your strengths – do not surrender to stereotypes. My portraits do not do my appeal justice – a girl can make it happen without adhering to beauty ideals. Drive and determination count for so much, ladies – love and respect yourself, the rest will follow. The Russians are a communal people: the word for happiness – ‘shast’ye’- means being part of something bigger. Women are stronger together – I carefully fostered my life-long friendships. My story is a milestone in female emancipation and empowerment. I overcome a fate raging against me. You can do that, too. 

Looking back at your life, what did you enjoy most and least? 

I have seen it all, rising from dirt poor beginnings to the most dizzying heights of power; from abject poverty to all trappings of an unimaginable wealth; from soul-destroying loneliness and inhumane humiliation to an enviably close companionship and the adulation of millions; I lost and found roots and families. Oh, yes – wait. I know (struggles with tears): I would have loved for all my children to live. I gave birth thirteen times. None of the Tsar’s generals has risked his life so often for him, and Russia. 

Why did it take so long for someone to tell the world your story? 

(Chuckles) I wonder! Historically, I lay low, which can be compared to Tut-Ankh-Amun. The Tsars before me and after me – including my great-grand-niece in law, Catherine The Great – shed SO much light that I slid into the shadows. Now, nobody who reads my story shall ever forget me again. Think of Hillary Mantel, whose genius gives Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s well-known love story a fresh twist by choosing Cromwell’s point of view. Italy’s ‘LA STAMPA’ wrote – “Tsarina offers the magnificent backdrop of the Kremlin court – intrigues of the first order and jealousies between ladies; bloody battles for the supremacy in the Baltics; the making of St. Petersburg and a Superpower; blending all in an epic cloaked in ice and snow’.” 

Neither you nor Ellen are Russian…

Well spotted. It’s an advantage: I observe the Russians with an outsider’s keen eye. Ellen read for a year until she was able to describe my strange, sensuous, and shocking world, writing ‘Tsarina’s opening sentence. Her research was vast, ranging from watching experimental movies such as ‘Russian Ark’, to reading a 17th century German merchants travel diaries and understanding the imaginary of Russian fairy tales. An all-encompassing effort! ‘Tsarina’ is a piece of literary diplomacy, making more people understand Russia, its history, and the beautiful Slavic soul!

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Ellen Alpsten was born and raised in the Kenyan highlands, before attending L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Whilst studying for her Msc in PPE she won the Grande École short story competition with her novella Meeting Mr. Gandhi and was encouraged to continue writing. Upon graduating, she worked as a producer and presenter for Bloomberg TV in London. She contributes to international publications such as Vogue, Standpoint and Conde Nast Traveller. Tsarina is her first novel. She lives in London with her husband and three children.

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/EAlpsten_Author

Praise for TSARINA

This is the ultimate Cinderella story of an illiterate peasant girl who becomes the empress of Russia. It makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme’ Daisy Goodwin

‘Ellen Apsten’s Tsarina brings to life the dramatic life of Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great, and afterwards Empress of Russia in her own right. She recounts this remarkable woman’s colourful life and times in the form of a novel, drawing however throughout on documentary evidence – this proves a highly effective approach’ Nikolai Tolstoy

‘Tsarina should come with a health warning- once you start reading, it’s impossible to stop’ Hannah Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love

BUY TSARINA HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing