Almost Anastasia tells the story of Franziska Schanzkowsky, the former factory worker who convinced royals, courtiers, and forensic experts that she was actually the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Nicholas II and sole survivor of the 1918 massacre at Ekaterinburg. DNA analysis has established who she really was, but once that mystery was solved the real mystery began—how did she do it? Why did she do it? What would it be like to step into someone else's life and live it forever? A work of narrative nonfiction drawn from original documents (some never before translated into English) and interviews with the people who knew her, Almost Anastasia follows Franziska from the streets of Berlin to the castles of deposed royalty, from Jazz Age New York to Nazi Germany and beyond. It is a tale of mystique, madness, and one woman’s determination to fool the world.

Almost Anastasia: The Life of Franziska Schanzkowsky

Biographies & Memoirs

Green, Vera

HUGHES, Victoria

Leaders & Notable People

Whistling Swan

Why would someone surrender a life of almost unimaginable privilege for a crown in a hostile land he or she had never seen? He was a brother of the Emperor of Austria, obsessed with travel, art, and court etiquette. She was the daughter of a Belgian king, ambitious, earnest, and accustomed to great wealth. Together Maximilian and Charlotte were the quintessential nineteenth century power couple—young, connected, and convinced they were destined to rule a tropical paradise. It was a vision made real by intrigue, high finance, and public relations; a vision which would lure them to death and madness in a country they never really understood. Their downfall electrified a world which had witnessed their regal departure from Europe only three years earlier. Some saw them as innocents manipulated into undertaking an impossible task, others as reformers whose good intentions were overwhelmed by the chaos of a civil war. In reality Charlotte and Maximilian were more complex—and much more human—than these platitudes would allow them to be. A Lurid Grandeur draws from period accounts to reveal the passions and contradictions at the heart of the ill-starred venture known as the Mexican Empire. It is a sometimes strange but always fascinating journey to the limits of myth, power, and self-deception.

A Lurid Grandeur: Maximilian & Carlota of Mexico

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Whistling Swan publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Whistling Swan

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Whistling Swan publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Almost Anastasia: The Life of Franziska Schanzkowsky

A Lurid Grandeur: Maximilian & Carlota of Mexico