Exclusive interview with author Jennifer Laam and a review of her new novel bringing together romances in Russia’s past and present
Rating: 3 Stars
Review by Gabrielle Pantera
“While reading about Anastasia, I ran across a story that told of an alternate theory for how a Romanov heir might have survived the Russian Revolution,” says The Tsarina’s Legacy author Jennifer Laam. “And, I let my imagination go from there.”
The Tsarina’s Legacy is politics and romance in a historical and contemporary story. Bringing the past and present together in Russia, Laam weaves together romances in two times. It finds a potential heiress to the Romanov family. Overall it works, although some of the plot twists to connect the two time periods don’t make perfect sense. Catherine the Great fans may be disappointed the story misses her salacious love life.
Present day Veronica Herrera is the granddaughter of Charlotte, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II. At birth Charlotte was whisked away from Russia to keep her safe. A hundred years ago in Russia, Catherine is Empress and her husband is dead. She rules with the help of her many lovers, including prince and general Grisha Potemkin. His descendent Dimitry Potemkin wants to help Veronica regain her family’s wealth and power. Veronica wants to help the imprisoned artist Reb Volkov, but can she save him from death in Siberia?
“I have been to Russia, but finances and family commitments keep me from traveling as much as I would like to for research,” says Lamm. “My favorite form of historical research is curling into a comfortable sofa at home and looking through pictures of Russia in the late eighteenth century. I love the palaces and the street scenes, but am most intrigued by the portraiture. My main resources for The Tsarina’s Legacy were Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin and Robert Massie’s Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman.”
“I have always been intrigued by Catherine the Great,” says Laam. “A close friend lent me a biography of Catherine’s most prominent lover and advisor, Prince Potemkin, and I quickly developed a historical crush on him. I wanted to concentrate on the time later in his life and the rivalry between Potemkin and Catherine’s much younger lover, Platon Zubov. I also decided to explore Potemkin’s relationship with the Islamic world.”
While writing the book, Laam made use of the UC Davis library and their extensive collection of books on imperial Russia and contemporary Russian culture.
“I wanted to focus on issues facing contemporary Russia, particularly free speech and LGBT civil rights,” says Laam. “I was inspired by the arrest and imprisonment of members of the punk group Pussy Riot.”
The Tsarina’s Legacy is Laam’s second novel. Her first novel, The Secret Daughter of the Tsar, was published in October 2013, also by St. Martin’s Press.
Vicki Lame at St. Martin’s Press is Laam’s editor. “Unfortunately I’ve still only met Jennifer on the phone,” says Lame. “I’m hoping one of these days I’ll find myself on her U.S. coast or her on mine. The first time we spoke, what really resonated with me most was her complete understanding of all of her characters, major or minor. Jennifer even made sure to put in the quirky ticks of her characters, quirks they had in real life hundreds of years ago. Even though much of her work is revisionist in terms of the contemporary narrative, every book of hers is also a wonderful history lesson for me.”
Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management is Laam’s editor. “Thankfully, my sister-in-law convinced me I should be on Twitter,” says Laam. “And, this is where I found Erin. At the time she was actively seeking new clients and debut novelists and her tastes were similar to mine.”
Laam is currently writing a novel set in the early nineteenth century told from the point of view of the wife of a famous Russian poet.
Laam graduatd from Sacramento’s University of the Pacific, and still lives in the California state capital.
The Tsarina’s Legacy by Jennifer Laam .Hardcover, 352 pages, Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (April 5, 2016), Language: English ISBN: 9781250091512, $27.99
