Overview

Burning with shame, Sofka and her family fled to England and then to Paris, where Sofka quickly embraced the bohemian culture of the 1920s and 1930s. During the Nazi occupation, Sofka would leave her first husband only to lose her second. Interned in a Nazi prison camp, she worked with the French Resistance and discovered communism, whose cause she would ironically continue to uphold for the rest of her life, becoming an outspoken member of the British Communist party and even leading tour groups for workers visiting the Soviet Union. But what was even more outrageous in its day than her conversion from princess to communist was Sofka's private life. She not only believed in sexual freedom, but often placed love, literature, and adventure before even her own children. Sofka was much more than a princess in exile--she was someone whose existence was constantly dislocated by revolution, yet nonetheless believed in revolution as a way of making the world a better place.

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9781605980669

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Reviews

Anyone reading about Sophy s sizzling charm, guts, and literary gifts can t help thinking it would have been fun to know her. (The Economist)

Princess Sophy Dolgorouky s life, wonderfully researched and movingly retold by her granddaughter, mirrors the horrors and convulsions of the past century. Funny, honest, searing, and tragic a fascinating insight into a world where fate, war and human cruelty changed lives with a sudden, reckless indifference. (The Times [London]) Anyone reading about Sophy s sizzling charm, guts, and literary gifts can t help thinking it would have been fun to know her. (The Economist) Fascinating. . . . Red Princess delights on several levels: as a detective story, biography, family saga, with glimpses of high society in Russia and Britain, and vivid descriptions of the desperate struggles for survival of those swept up in the storms of twentieth century history. (Times Literary Supplement) Anyone reading about Sophy 's sizzling charm, guts, and literary gifts can t help thinking it would have been fun to know her. (The Economist) Princess Sophy Dolgorouky 's life, wonderfully researched and movingly retold by her granddaughter, mirrors the horrors and convulsions of the past century. Funny, honest, searing, and tragic a fascinating insight into a world where fate, war and human cruelty changed lives with a sudden, reckless indifference. (The Times [London]) In a thrilling new book, Sofka Zinovieff traces the extraordinary life of her grandmother, a daredevil Russian princess who criss-crossed Europe, falling in love and finding adventure wherever she went. (Sebastian Shakespeare, Harper s Bazaar) No Hollywood fantasy is more exciting than this true story of a Russian princess in exile who becomes a bohemian, free lover and Communist. The power of this biography is in its historical breadth as well as Zinovieff's ability to conjure the specificity of time and place through Sofka's experiences of the 20th century's major political and culture events. A notable story told with elan and an eye for historical and social detail. (Publishers Weekly)

Author Information

Sofka Zinovieff was inspired to uncover the sensational life of her grandmother after stumbling across one of Sophy's diaries written during the occupation. A trained anthropologist and journalist, Zinovieff lives in Athens, Greece.

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