The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire

by Linda Lafferty

  Mary Fleming Zirin made the journals accessible to me as an English speaker. Zirin’s translation of Durova’s book was indispensible to my story line and character development. Also her extensive research into how Nadezhda Durova’s memoirs conflicted with the truth became the skeleton of my novel.

  I read many documents and books on Tsar Alexander I. Particularly useful to me were Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon, by Marie-Pierre Rey; Alexander of Russia: Napoleon’s Conqueror, by Henri Troyat; Memoirs of Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander I, by Adam Jerzy Czartoryski; and yes, War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Obviously I owe much credit to author Alexis S. Troubetzkoy’s Imperial Legend: The Mysterious Disappearance of Alexander I. I highly recommend this book for fascinating reading on Tsar Alexander and the legend of Feodor Kuzmich.

  I read a stack of books on Napoleon, but these particular tomes gave me a good grounding: Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts, and the three-book series 1812, by Paul Britten Austen: The March on Moscow, Napoleon in Moscow, and The Great Retreat. Also, A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, by Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito and Colonel John R. Elting, was very useful in writing battle scenes and helping me with the geography of Russia and the rest of Europe.

  In Russia

  I had a lot of help from my new Russian friends both in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Expert guide Ludmilla Kolesova kept up a jam-packed schedule of museum visits and heritage sites. She crammed in almost all of the sites mentioned in the novel, from St. Petersburg palaces to Tsarkoe Selo and Gatchina.

  Alexey Le Porc, art historian and curator, gave my husband and me a private tour of the Hermitage concerning objects mentioned in this book. At Mikhailovsky Castle, Francuzov Vladimir Evgenievich showed us the actual apartments where Tsar Paul, Alexander’s father, was murdered.

  Tatiana Grigorieva guided us through Moscow and to the battlefield of Borodino, sharing her incredible knowledge of history. At the State History Museum, Matvey Katkov showed us fascinating inventory of the Patriotic Wars, including Napoleon’s camp bed and the sleigh he used to escape to Paris. We had a thorough education at the museum of Borodino: uniforms, weapons, maps, and a three-dimensional battlefield replica that lit up the troop movements of both the Russian and French army.

  In the United States

  Dasha Harrison and Mariana Fisher of Exeter International arranged our extensive research tour in Russia.

  Nancy Elisha, my beloved sister, has always encouraged my writing and helped through twenty-seven years of relentless rejection.

  The breathtaking Strang Ranch of Carbondale, Colorado, provided a fount of inspiration every day. I conjured up battle scenes from the pages of research books and mapped them in my mind as I rode over the magnificent spread of open fields and rolling hills. Thank you to Bridget Strang and Maree McAteer, who inspire me daily with their horsemanship.

  Thank you to Marina Beadleston for her enthusiasm for my writing career. Perhaps my living next door to Romanov descendants years ago subconsciously led me to this subject matter. (At any rate, I know the exact shade of Romanov blue eyes!)

  Gratitude to other Roaring Fork Valley residents, especially Sarah Kennedy Flug! Also thanks to Lucia Caretto, Emily and Bel Carpenter, and Sandy MacKay, for their important support in mind and spirit.

  Thank you to my great Amazon team: Gabriella Dumpit, Brent Fattore, Tyler Stoops, and Dennelle Catlett, among others. Special appreciation to Danielle Marshall, my acquisitions editor at Lake Union. Thanks for being there right on the spot when we had “snags,” no matter the day or time of night.

  To Lindsay Guzzardo, former Amazon editor and now screenwriter. I will never forget you.

  To my copy editors Katherine Faydash and Sharon Turner Mulvihill. What a vast list of international characters, places, battlefields, dates to check! (Especially as my heroine was notoriously freehanded in her timeline.) I’m deeply grateful for your hard labor on this novel.

  To my hardworking proofreader, Leighton Wingate. What a formidable team I have in production!

  Melody Guy, my developmental editor, is an incredibly sensitive editor who draws my best work from me. I love working with her. I have been blessed having her guide all five of my published books.

  My gratitude to Shasti O’Leary-Soudant for her remarkable cover art.

  Gratitude to Jeff Belle. This is my fifth novel published with Amazon! Thanks for your support.

  To my foreign rights team at Curtis Brown, especially Betsy Robbins and Sophie Baker, thank you for shopping my book rights around the world.

  The team at Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners has guided my contracts and all matters of business, looking out for me all along the way. And thank you, Cathy Gleason and Victoria Marini.

  To my friend and agent Deborah Schneider, who first contacted me in 1993. We’ve come a long way together.

  To my beloved parents, Betty and Fred Lafferty. We all miss you, Mommy. I remember how you always wanted to visit St. Petersburg, how the history of Russia fascinated you. You and Daddy raised all your girls to love books, storytelling, and world travel. We will always love you both.

  Finally, my profound gratitude to Andy Stone, my husband, research assistant, and first (and constant!) editor. You are the love of my life. I don’t know if I ever could have written all these books without your love, encouragement, and help—especially reading and editing early drafts. I am blessed to have you as my partner.

  About the Author

  Photo © 2015 Andy Stone

  Linda Lafferty was a teacher for nearly three decades, in schools from Madrid, Spain, to Aspen, Colorado. She completed her PhD in bilingual special education and worked in that field; she also taught English as a second language and bilingual American history. Linda is the author of four previous novels—The Bloodletter’s Daughter, The Drowning Guard, House of Bathory, and The Shepherdess of Siena—all of which have been translated into several languages. The Drowning Guard won the Colorado Book Award for Historical Fiction. She lives in Colorado with her husband.