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Speak of Me in Whispers
THE
What do missing Romanov children, supposedly executed in 1918, have to do with Imperial treasures mysteriously found and sold on the black market by corrupt Nazi officials in 1943?
Lena Schillers’s mother escaped their homeland, fleeing the Russian Revolution when Lena was very young. They settled in Rostock, Germany, but her mother disappeared soon after, leaving Lena in the care of a kind woman and a rich stepfather who barely acknowledged her existence then.
Lena has grown up, and her stepfather notices her now. But she has bigger Hitler has sent his enforcers to Rostock to find someone to blame for the theft of his looted treasures, which somehow seem to have gone missing. Repeatedly. But only those stolen from Russian Imperial palaces.
Lena must give them a scapegoat before the Gestapo starts hauling people away, including
"Remember my name, my daughter, my dear one, but speak of me only in whispers...."
The
Russia, 1917: In September, a train loaded with boxes of treasures confiscated from palaces of the Imperial family made its way into Moscow. The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs had not been presented at Livadia that year, as the Romanov family had been arrested and held prisoner at Tsarskoe Selo.
Russia, 1918: While detained, the women of the Romanov family secretly sewed a fortune in precious gemstones into their clothes. There’s no credible account of the recovery of these jewels, and for decades the last Fabergé Easter Eggs for 1917 were presumed either non-existent, destroyed, or lost.
Russia, 1941: Officers of the Nazi blitzkrieg occupied Livadia, a Romanov palace on the Black Sea. There, they found a secret wall safe kept hidden from the looting-Bolsheviks for decades. When the Soviets recaptured the palace, the wall safe had been opened without force and was empty, with no clue as to what had been inside.
This photograph of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia in about 1915. Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
What do missing Romanov children, supposedly executed in 1918, have to do with Imperial treasures mysteriously found and sold on the black market by corrupt Nazi officials in 1943?
Lena Schillers’s mother escaped their homeland, fleeing the Russian Revolution when Lena was very young. They settled in Rostock, Germany, but her mother disappeared soon after, leaving Lena in the care of a kind woman and a rich stepfather who barely acknowledged her existence then.
Lena has grown up, and her stepfather notices her now. But she has bigger Hitler has sent his enforcers to Rostock to find someone to blame for the theft of his looted treasures, which somehow seem to have gone missing. Repeatedly. But only those stolen from Russian Imperial palaces.
Lena must give them a scapegoat before the Gestapo starts hauling people away, including
"Remember my name, my daughter, my dear one, but speak of me only in whispers...."
The
Russia, 1917: In September, a train loaded with boxes of treasures confiscated from palaces of the Imperial family made its way into Moscow. The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs had not been presented at Livadia that year, as the Romanov family had been arrested and held prisoner at Tsarskoe Selo.
Russia, 1918: While detained, the women of the Romanov family secretly sewed a fortune in precious gemstones into their clothes. There’s no credible account of the recovery of these jewels, and for decades the last Fabergé Easter Eggs for 1917 were presumed either non-existent, destroyed, or lost.
Russia, 1941: Officers of the Nazi blitzkrieg occupied Livadia, a Romanov palace on the Black Sea. There, they found a secret wall safe kept hidden from the looting-Bolsheviks for decades. When the Soviets recaptured the palace, the wall safe had been opened without force and was empty, with no clue as to what had been inside.
This photograph of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia in about 1915. Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
478 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 5, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 6, 2025
A wonderful surprise
I had this book for awhile and was not sure if I would enjoy it. I actually really loved it. It was so well told and so interesting. I am glad to have finally read it. I definitely recommend it.
I had this book for awhile and was not sure if I would enjoy it. I actually really loved it. It was so well told and so interesting. I am glad to have finally read it. I definitely recommend it.
December 1, 2014
This book is hard for me to review. I really liked some parts of it, but some of it was so damn confusing...I don't know, I feel like the author needs a better editor. The plotline involving theft of Imperial Russian artwork was such a cluster of confusion...I still don't understand what happened. The plotline involving a Romanov descendant was much better. Far less confusing. Although I'm still confused as to why some of the characters spoke like Yoda...
August 19, 2012
an interesting take on what might have happened if one of the romanov cihldren, who were really all assasinated in 1918 with their parents, had lived.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews