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

by Linda Lafferty

In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.

It’s 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother’s footsteps. She’s a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home. Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations—she as a heroic fighter and him as a spiritual seeker—while the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on.

In a captivating tale that brings Durova’s memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Russia, War, Historical, 19th Century, Russian History

444 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2016

About the author

The daughter of a naval commander, Linda Lafferty attended fourteen different schools growing up, ultimately graduating from the University of Colorado with a master's degree and a PhD in education. Her peripatetic childhood nourished a lifelong love of travel, and she studied abroad in England, France, Mexico, and Spain. Her uncle introduced her to the sport of polo when she was just ten years old, and she enjoys playing to this day. She also competed on the Lancaster University Riding Team in England in stadium jumping, cross country, and dressage. A veteran school educator, she is the author of The Bloodletter's Daughter and The Drowning Guard. She lives in Colorado.

Reviews

[Jenny Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars. I was pretty excited to read this story based on the life of Nadezhda Durova, a young woman who disguised herself as a man to join the Russian cavalry in the fight against Napoleon. But while I really wanted to love this story, I found the presentation of it really held it back.

It is told alternatingly in Nadezhda's first-person point of view and an omniscient point-of-view style from the future Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the people who surround him. Short chapters jump back and forth in time instead of proceeding chronologically; for example, it's 1789 in one's story and 1799 in another, then back in time to 1795, and this goes on until nearly the end of the book when the two timelines finally converge. And the omniscient point-of-view style means that the reader gets thoughts from all sorts of characters, some of which are fleeting and really shouldn't have a point of view in the story, and others who just weren't compelling enough to warrant their own scenes. There is even a random scene from a young Jules Verne's point of view that adds nothing to the story. And I did not think the inclusion of several scenes from Napoleon's point of view toward the end of the book were necessary. I thought he was already a looming presence based on the experiences of Nadezhda and Tsar Alexander, who does actually meet him in the story, and those scenes seemed out of place and off-track in a novel about the Russians' experiences during the war.

Another big problem for me is that this book has some serious continuity issues. For example, Alexander is twelve on one page and fifteen on the next; then on the next page, more than a year has passed, but he's still fifteen. At the end of one scene, Nadya informs the reader of a new presence in her life, her horse, but in her next scene when she actually receives the horse, it is five years later. Then another five years pass before she rides him for the first time, though she's still the same age she was when she acquired him! These may sound like minor errors, but when there are so many (and what I've listed here are only several of many), it becomes extremely distracting and confusing. I was constantly looking back for dates to see if I had missed something. What's even more frustrating is that these errors absolutely should have been discovered in the multiple rounds of editing this book had to go through to reach publication. This story could have been wonderful. Nadezhda is a little-known woman whose story deserves to be told, but not like this. The structure made this book more of a chore to read than a pleasure.

However, the story is not without some merit. The main characters are complex. Though Tsar Alexander is easily swayed by sycophants and is prone to weakness and insensitivity, he is still likable. Nadezhda is an engaging heroine, and readers will empathize with her calling to escape the societal expectations of women, but to me she came across as rather bumbling in her military exploits instead of the decorated hero she is supposed to be. And it is a tad uneven in characterization, or rather character portrayal. We get intimate views into some episodes of their lives while others that would seem to warrant inclusion and exploration are merely mentioned in passing. I did find it interesting to read about Napoleon's disastrous winter campaign from the Russian perspective. Having adored the BBC's new adaptation of War and Peace earlier this year, I recognized some of the events occurring. And the descriptions of Russia and Russian folklore are evocative.

Despite my issues with all of the above-mentioned, I kept reading in the hopes that the ending would bump this over the 3-star hump so that I could still recommend this to readers. But the ending actually ruined it for me. I won't spoil it with specifics, but I will say I am not a fan of the author's decision to leave out some pretty vital information about Nadezhda and spring it on the reader at the end, calling into question nearly everything the reader learned in Nadezhda's point of view, and I found her reason for doing so as explained in the author's note to be rather ridiculous in light of the purpose of historical fiction.

Overall, I did find portions of the story to be entertaining, and I think it may be worth a read to gain some insight into the Russian side of the war without having to slog through a reading of War and Peace. But I can't really recommend this to regular readers of historical fiction who expect to be transported by a tightly woven narrative constructed in a manner to make reading rewarding instead of challenging and without bait-and-switch tactics that make the reader wonder if they can believe anything they just read.

[Brittany McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Phenomenal. This book was truly spectacular. I loved it. Excellent characters, and superb historical references. The author's note and Epilogue made the book even more accurate with a new reading list about Nadezhda Durova to look into now!

Nadezhda Durova was born in the harsh times of history; during the early 1800s, Russian Tsars were changing like hotcakes. Her mother had disrespected her family name and wealth to marry a soldier, and when she did not deliver the boy she had hoped for, she felt animosity toward the daughter. Some of these events made me cringe and hurt within my soul, but it ended up being for the best for all of the training and horse sense that Nedezhda learned because of it.

At the same time, we are following the path of Alexandar Romanov, who is being groomed by his grandmother to take the throne and skip past his father, Peter. This causes a plethora of familiar hatred, and he doesn't even want to be Tsar.

This story is intricately woven and does a wonderful job of not jumping between characters and making the lines concise when told from different points of view. Nadezhda (under the guise of the name and identity of Aleksander) fights in the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk.

This was an intimate look at both the life of the early 1800s Cavalry and the political intrigue behind the scenes of the Tsars. The characters and scenes are brought to life for the reader.

My only real complaint was that the scene setting and the names, in the beginning, could have been more polished. I know this is based on accurate historical personnel, but the Alexander/Aleksander characters took some getting used to.

Overall, 5 stars easily. After this extraordinary masterpiece, I can't wait to check out more of Linda's novels.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Girl Who Fought Napoleon, Linda Lafferty tells the story of Nadezhda Durova and Tsar Alexander I during the Napoleonic Wars. I was excited with the idea of reading about a real life maiden warrior and was anxious to read this book. The story of Tsar Alexander I was also intriguing, so I went for it with high hopes. Maybe my hopes were too high and that is always a problem when evaluating something, but I was disappointed, specially with the prose and the narrative.
The characters are compelling, the story is rich, but the book is, in its best moments, deficient. The story is told in the first person by Nadezhda and in the third person when it narrates Alexander I’s (and even Napoleon’s) parts, but in both persons the prose is lacking, and the characters don’t really come alive with it. The worst for me is when a character is thinking something and it’s transcribed into text, it seems really naïve or forced, as if they are acting on a stage. As a result, you really don’t get to know these characters, and Alexander I and Alexander Aleksandrov (Nadezhda adopts the name Alexander when she joins the army, and Alexander I bestow his name on her too), who were great individuals, come out as flat.
The narrative also presented a problem for me, since it jumped back and forth in time for no particular reason. Every chapter starts with the year when the action was happening, but when you are constantly jumping from 1801 to 1805 and back to 1804 and again to 1806, it’s not easy to memorize it. Alexander I’s story was the most out of order, what made it more difficult to follow the character’s growth. And the story of them both was not always in sync with one another, giving the impression that sometimes I was reading two different books. In the end, again, it just came out lacking and made the characters seem more artificial. It made it difficult to understand and empathize with them, as well as to admire the link between the two the author wanted to show. With this and the lifeless prose, the story doesn’t flow.
With great real life characters and a great real story, I read the whole book and was even curious sometimes to read on, but it is far from being the captivating tale it could be, and it left me disappointed.

Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy in return for an honest review.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one. It's based on a true story--Nadhezhda Durova was a real woman who did fight for Napoleon--and that piqued my interest. I love books about strong, butt-kicking women in history. The historical and cultural information in this novel is accurate and interesting as well. Unfortunately, the writing and pacing left a lot to be desired.

The story moves between several viewpoints, with Nadya and Tsar Alexander being the main ones. Their storylines eventually do converge. I felt like not enough time was spent on Nadya's perspective, though. Tsar Alexander and his wife Elizabeth fill up a lot of the pages, with their affairs and fights and such, and it felt like just that--filler. Other perspectives--like a young Jules Verne, or the cavalry officer Empress Elizabeth had an affair with--were flat-out unnecessary to the story. None of the characters besides Nadya, Tsar Alexander, and Denisov were developed. Several secondary characters appear for only one scene, and they're pretty unmemorable. I never really felt connected to any of the characters in the novel.

The novel really speeds up towards the end, fast-forwarding through time, and several important events are mentioned in passing with no real emotional impact. The book was just trying to do too much. I also found it strange that the author chose to withhold important information about Nadya's life, slipping it in at the end in a confusing way. Overall: interesting subject matter, weak execution.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars (liked it)

I really liked the prose, the setting, and the fact that this was based on an actual historical military heroine but wished she had remained even more the focus throughout the book and that there had been more extensions of the plot related to her beyond the central military thread.

[Carrie Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon is really a book divided between two stories. On the one hand, you have Nadezhda’s story – this brave girl who disguised herself as a boy and ran off to join the Russian cavalry in the fight against Napoleon. Her story is told from her perspective, in first person, and her voice is both compelling and haunting. The horrors of war, the harsh conditions of a military camp (especially for a female who can’t reveal she’s not a he), the bond between Nadezhda and her beloved horse… all will hold readers riveted with bated breath as we turn the pages, at once eager and dreading to learn her fate.

On the other hand, you have the story of Tsar Alexander, marketed from the back cover blurb as one who defied expectations like Nadezhda did. While she broke outside her role in life and became a brave warrior, he balked at the ruling position he was thrust into and became a spiritual seeker. However, even this isn’t really the story we end up with in his case. His narratives are third person, which admittedly distances us a bit from him after Nadezhda’s engaging first person accounts. But beyond that, the majority of his part of the book revolves around his open marriage – his affairs and his wife’s affairs… and him encouraging his wife to have affairs. And then him complaining about how he doesn’t want to be tsar. He visits a spiritual guide twice – and mentions to him that he is open to all things religious – but that’s about the extent of the time given to Alexander as a spiritual seeker.

Bottom Line: I think I would have really liked this story if it had just been Nadezhda’s tale to tell. Instead, I felt disconnected from both stories and never really warmed up to any of the characters. The history is incredibly interesting, and The Girl Who Fought Napoleon has left me wanting to know more about all of it. But the book itself – as a story – just didn’t win me over. In fact, there are a couple of surprising twists at the end, including one that had me feeling a bit betrayed by the book, to be honest. So, maybe I’m still just grumpy about that lol but I have mixed feelings about the story as a whole.

Reviewer’s Note: This book has a very few mild curse words scattered throughout, and some intimate scenes that are more sensual than explicit.

See my full review at Reading Is My SuperPower

[Melisende · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, another story that should have been fascinating yet the disjointed telling of the tale detracts from any reading pleasure. Even the author admits that the actual biography of the subject - Nadezhda Durov - is heavy with conflicting details.

Told in narrative form by Nadezhda and the future Tsar Alexander, the constant back and forth with the timeline (1783 - 1825) makes this story even harder to follow than it should have been - even with artistic liberties being taken. Alternating narrative would have been easier to follow if timeline keep in chronological order.

[J. Else · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1803, Nadezhda Durova seeks to escape the tedium of a woman’s life. She disguises herself as a boy and escapes home on horseback to join the Russian army. Meanwhile, Alexander I, grandson to Catherine the Great, is crowned Tsar after the assassination of his father, but the assassination haunts Alexander throughout his lifetime. Can these two stop Napoleon’s march against Russia?

Linda Lafferty alternates narration between Nadezhda/Nadya and the Russian court, but each story moves at a different speed, with Nadya’s a couple years after Alexander’s, even though Nadya’s chapters appear first. This slows the plot considerably. It would have worked better to establish the Russian court dramas first and then focus on our main character, so that both plots move forward together instead of rocking back and forth in time. Once the Russian court storyline catches up with Nadya’s, the progression of the war with Napoleon makes much more sense.

The author eloquently questions the imprint heroes leave on the pages of history. Will they become a “smudge on the page until it is erased forever,” or can the sacrifices men make during wartime be an everlasting and honored memory? Lafferty delivers another meticulously researched story with "The Girl Who Fought Napoleon." I noted many similarities in this novel to Lafferty’s 2015 novel, "The Shepherdess of Siena." In both books, our main characters are horsewomen who defy expectations in a male-dominated society, possess an unwavering spirit, and are spitfires by nature.

Overall, I found Lafferty’s book to be very engaging. With a character-driven plot that is both historically intriguing and emotionally weighted, this book is a very satisfying read once you get through the initial time-shifting sections.

Review posted via the Historical Novel Society at https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...

[Annette Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating story, and very well told. This is the tale of Nadezhda Durova, a young woman born into the army life, who grows up in the company of soldiers and decides to become one when she grows up. Eager to escape the clutches of her mother, she runs away one night, disguises herself as a man named Alexander and joins the army. Her only possession is her beloved horse, and she becomes part of the cavalry and serves in some of the bloodiest battles of the campaign against Napoleon's Grande Armee. Her bravery brings her to the attention of the Tsar, Alexander , and despite knowing her secret he presents her with the Iron Cross, and promotes her. He also renames her Alexandrov.
Although this book is called The Girl who Fought Napoleon, it is also the story of Tsar Alexander, grandson of Catherine the Great, and a somewhat unwilling ruler, who struggled with his duty ,and with his feelings of guilt at the murder of his father. As well as learning about life as a solider , the reader is surrounded by the intrigue of the Russian Imperial Court, plots, coups and affairs abound, making for a dramatic tale.
The book is rich in historical detail, and the scene setting is particularly well done, descriptions of the smells of war had me wrinkling my nose, while those of the harsh Russian winter made me shiver in sympathy with the soldiers I was reading about.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend it to history fans, or to readers who like stories of strong , independent women. Learning that it was based on real events added an extra layer of enjoyment.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that when I took this book to review I had no idea it was based on a real person. Nadezhda Durova lived and did ride in the cavalry. She wrote her memoirs and this book uses them to create a richer, fictional tale about a woman who defied the normal path set out for women of her time.

There is so much possibility here for an amazing novel. Heck the truth is almost too amazing to believe. But the structure of the book makes it is very hard to get into from the start. Like an awful lot of books lately it uses the back and forth in time and alternate chapter/voice method for telling the tale but the chapter titles don’t give you much more than a date. You have to figure out who is narrating the chapter with the reading of it. In the early chapters this proved, at times, challenging. It’s also just getting old as a conceit. Seriously people – just tell your stories.

Nadya is a complicated character and like most of that type there are times you love her and times you hate her. She is very well developed and she really drives the story. The chapters where she is not telling the story are not as vibrant. They are not in a single voice as her story is and perhaps that is why.

I did enjoy the book; I always love learning about fascinating women in history and Nadya sure qualifies on that count. A woman who runs away from home to ride in the cavalry is a rare woman indeed. Russian history is a particular interest of mine as well mostly due to a wonderful professor in college. He brought the country alive while teaching. I think the book is certainly worth reading despite it’s construction flaws. Nadya is a woman who deserves her attention.

3.5

[Lucile · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon is a well-written historic fiction set in Russia during the early 1800s. Lafferty has really done her research for this book as evidenced by the setting, tone, and details.

The main characters are both real, documented people. Nadya, a young Russian girl who grew up on horseback with her calvary father. Alexander, the son of Czar Paul, becomes Czar although he neither wants or has a talent for leadership.

The backdrop of this wonder story covers the history and battles of the period, Czar Paul's death, the capture and imprisonment of Napoleon. More importantly, it covers the plight of the common people, the life of soldiers, the harsh Russian climate, and the war-induced famine.

I will recommend this book to everyone. If you think you should know more about Russian history this book will give you a casual knowledge of the subject without opening a textbook. Lafferty includes an "Author's Notes" section that clarifies which portions of the book are factual. I value notes in historic fiction since I often use fiction in my teaching.

I highly recommend the audio version.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This account of the life of Nedezhda Durova is fascinating. With her father being in the army the family moved around with the cavalry. She was spurned by her mother because she didn't conform to the traditional role of a daughter. Nedezha found her "family" in the cavalry and went to extraordinary lengths to fulfil her dream and join the Russian army. Set In the time of the Russian tsars and the political intrigue that went hand in hand with that time, we are treated to a great history lesson. Thoroughly enjoyable, with some surprises along the way!

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two separate threads in The Girl Who Fought Napoleon. In the first, a young girl runs away from home to join Russian Army, as a boy, in the late eighteenth century. In the second thread, there is intrigue and war in the court in Russia. The two threads ping pong back and forth.

Nadezhda Durov was rejected by her mother and spends her formative years with her father who is in the Russian cavalry. He leaves the cavalry, but horses and the cavalry are in young Nadezhda's blood. Her mother attempts to form her into a charming woman, but Nadezda wants just to be with her horse, Alcides. Eventually she rides away from home and disguises herself as a young man to join the army. Durov lacks physical strength and has a difficult time surviving cold, hunger, and lack of sleep during war. As a soldier she makes mistake after mistake, but somehow rises above her errors.

In the meanwhile, Catherine the Great's son, Paul, is killed and his young son, Alexander is made tsar. The author, Linda Lafferty, emphasizes the salacious relationships that Paul and then Alexander have with their wives and lovers. Alexander's biggest challenge though is Napoleon, whose army is marching across Europe and intends to take over Russia.

Both Durov and Alexander fight Napoleon's army in their own way. Durov is a better warrior than expected and Alexander is a weak leader.

Unfortunately, Lafferty takes great liberties with Russian history. I was surprised that Durov's story is based on a real woman who did leave home to fight in the Russian army. She wrote a memoir of her experiences titled The Cavalry Maiden.

I think The Girl Who Fought Napoleon would be a stronger book if it just focused on Durov. The reader does not need the second thread on the Romanovs. As a whole it did not work for me because of the way Lafferty manipulated history.

Like many other books, there is a Prologue which begins with someone looking back over the past. Often I forget what happens in the Prologue or that it even exists. I only know about this one because I own the ebook, and after listening to the audio, I went back and looked at it. The Prologue does add to the story, but because I forgot about it, it wasn't useful to me.

I listened to audio book which was narrated by Kathleen Gati. I liked her voices and accents.

[April Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-written enough, but the storyline was a disappointment for me. I bought the book expecting the tale of a proto-feminist who goes to war and fights courageously and every bit as hard as her male peers, kind of along the lines of Joan of Arc (though without the religious aspect), but I didn't find it here. I don't understand why this woman is hailed as a hero and was repeatedly promoted when, according to the account in this book at least, she never did anything heroic. She didn't fight in battles, so much as survive them. While making plenty of stupid mistakes along the way. On the plus side, the audiobook narration is excellent.

--SPOILER ALERT--

I haven't read the historical accounts nor the account published by the real Nadezhda Durova, but if this book is based on those accounts then Nadezhda Durova wasn't really a war hero at all. She didn't fight in the army so much as hide in it. There are no accounts of her actually engaging with the enemy personally, though lots of passages about her crossing huge, bloody battlefields where men are falling all around her. She repeatedly makes rookie mistakes, getting separated from her unit and losing her horse, tack, money, coat and weapons more than once, either due to not following orders or not thinking things through, and is repeatedly reprimanded by her senior officers for these mistakes. Yet amazingly, she is promoted to an officer's rank primarily because she rescued a couple of other officers on the battlefield---while in the process of crossing the battlefield and *not* fighting. She's also recognized as female more than once, so she was apparently not even very good at passing herself off as male.

I gave up about 60% of the way in to the audiobook, after she'd personally met the Tsar and been promoted to an officer's rank, despite having been a blow-it and not having actually fought anyone up to that point. I get that it takes courage to be on a field of battle at all, but those who are singled out as heroes and have books written about them generally have done more than just survived, and screwed up repeatedly along the way. I just couldn't keep seeing this woman the hero she's purported to be.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love historical fiction. I love being taken to different places and times. This is the story of Nadezhda Durova, a woman who fought as a Russian officer against Napoleon. The story is told from the alternating view of Nadezhda and Tsar Alexander I and eventually Napoleon and some other minor characters. Changing from Nadezhda and Alexander showed different aspects of the war. Seeing Napoleon's and others sometimes made sense and sometimes was just confusing. There was one scene I had no idea why it was there. It was a fast read despite it's length and it was packed with information but...
Towards the end of the book is a section about the despair of the French army retreating. It made me realize why I hadn't been connecting with the book. I never felt like I was in the Russian court. I never felt I was riding with the cavalry. At least 5 times, Nadezhda's secret is found out and no one cares. I began to wonder why I should. She even has her leg crushed and the doctor says it has to be amputated but she refuses. Her leg throbs here and there and she is ordered to go home to recuperate. Shouldn't there be some long lasting consequences?
Tsar Alexander is hardly any better. We constantly hear what he thinks of his wife and what he thinks of his mistress but the reader never gets to meet the mistress. He comes acrossed as a spoiled brat who wants all the benefits of wealth with none of the responsibilities of royalty. I'm not sure if that was the author's intent.
I did enjoy this book. It is based on actual people. I just can't help but think it was short a rewrite or two. The book just needed more feeling.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy reading about history from various perspectives from people who were involved this is a book for you. The main character is Nadezhda Durova/Alexander Alexandrov, however the author had done a brilliant job of including the perspective from Tsar Alexander, his wife Elizabeth, and even Napoleon's internal thought process. The author uses the historical timeline to pull you along the series of events and help understand where different characters operating and what they were doing. The author also used simple phrases from other languages, but always managed to give a understanding of what the phrase meant. Also (since I read this as a kindle book) whenever I wasn't too sure of what a foreign phrase I could also use the kindle dictionary to look words and phrases up. I think there was only two french phrases that were not found within the book. This book is a wonderful trip through the mind of unique characters who did the unbelievable in history. The ending was the only part that was a little disconnected to me. It felt like suddenly we (as the readers) were dropped into the memories of an very old Nadezhda/Alexandrov. It was an interesting way to wrap up some lose ends and unmentioned events in her life (such that she was married and had a child before she left to join the calvary). Overall a great read, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical events/ historical fiction books. Now the next thing to do is to decided which on of the authors book to read next :)

[Andrew Kaufman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given my passion for Russian history and culture, I was primed to love this “novel of the Russian Empire.” Add to the setting the fact that Lafferty bases her novel on the fascinating true story of a Russian girl named Nadezhda Durova, who disguised herself as a boy in order to join the Russian war effort against Napoleon, and this book had a lot going for it even before I cracked it open. Maybe I had too high of expectations. There are indeed some lovely moments. The description of Nadezhda’s agony over the death of her beloved horse is moving. The longing of Nadezhda’s father for his daughter who has abandoned her home without warning is touching. As are some of the passages describing Tsar Alexander I’s soaring spirituality in an environment defined by the virtues of traditional masculine strength and militarism. These are among the best, most real and human elements in the book. Unfortunately, however, they are too far and few between to have sustained my deep engagement with the story. It felt at times like Lafferty was reaching for effect rather than uncovering the subter, truer drama of authentic human experience. And the parallelism between Nadezhda Durova’s struggle to live her passion and Alexander I’s struggle to find himself as a leader was an interesting conceit, but not as artfully executed as it could have been. This novel is worth a read for the sheer entertainment value of the surprising story. But I’m afraid it’s not a book to be studied, savored, or read more than once.

[Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a disclaimer, I don't usually read historical fiction books so I was not the intended audience for this story. I read the Winternight Trilogy a while back and Katherine Arden cited this book as one of her inspirations. Although a lot of the book was really engaging it felt unfocused and the multiple perspectives prevented me from fully connecting with the two main characters. I wish the book only focused on the experience of the Tsar and Nadya and commented on the other events/characters through their eyes. For example, I did not care what Napoleon was thinking during all of this and his parts took up valuable time that could have been spent with Nadya and the Tsar.

That being said, the prose and setting were both beautifully done and this book renewed my interest in Ukrainian and Eastern European history in general. I bought the Audiobook version and as a native Russian speaker, Kathleen Gati is a joy to listen to as always.

[J.S. Jaeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book pulled me in from the first page. I immediately loathed yet pitied Nadezhda’s mother and rooted for Nadezhda to overcome her control. The characters are nicely developed. The jumping back and forth between the life of Nadezhda and the Russian royalty could be distracting at times, but I loved learning more about Russian history through Nadezhda’s story. I appreciated the author's recap of the research going into the story at the end.
Levels of profanity and violence are appropriate for teen readers. Level of sexuality is appropriate for older teens or adults.
I won a free copy of this ebook in a giveaway.

[Dave Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't bring myself to give this 5 stars as it isn't the complete package.
However, it's a sweeping tale and I really did like it, I felt it had the same sort of 'classic' style as say 'War and Peace'.
But, much like other readers reviews it does get a little disjointed when the narrative switches from 1st person to 3rd person.
This is a good read, that could have been great if the author had stuck to the same perspective for both characters...after all they are based on two real individuals, so surely fictional interpretation around these true events is open to artistic license?
I recommend it if you like world history/historical novels.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Lafferty’s novels. While I enjoyed this story of Nadya Durova’s time in the Russian military, I had a more difficult time staying engaged with the story.
Nadya is born into a military family at the end of the 17th century. She loves the outdoors and riding horses. She poses as a boy and runs away to join the military to escape her suffocating mother.
The parallel story follows Alexander Romanov’s rise from favored grandson of Catherine the Great to tsar.
Occasionally we also get a glimpse of the period through the eyes of Napoleon, which just feels out of place and unimportant to the story.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible story about a girl who was determined to change her life. She was willing to push her physical strength to an utmost level in order to perform along her fellow soldiers. It must have involved her continuous effort of details to avoid being discovered as an impostor.
It was difficult to accept that there really was a woman who joined the military, pretending to be a young recruit. Several sources were consulted to verify the existence of this amazing lady. It was a surprise to find out that she actually fought In the Russian military against Napoleon. I highly recommend this story.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this author! For a historical fiction junkie like myself, these are such fun books to read. Lafferty creates such a realistic world that you are immediately drawn into, you feel like you are in the middle of all of the action. You come to know the characters to the point that they could be your friends. I enjoyed learning more about Russia and the Napoleonic Wars. So very fascinating. This story was based on a REAL woman, Nadezhda Durova, who was a soldier in the Russian Army (dressed as a man, of course). Oh my goodness! She has quite the tale to tell!

[Morris-Ken Hines · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inspiring and captivating

I thought this book was excellent with the period and history. I think that the Czar was before his time. I enjoyed her time in the war with such bravery was inspiring but what grabbed my attention was her situation as a child and the rejection of her mother at such a young age gave her also the inability to be a mother herself. The last chapters summed up and explains so much and a great ending. I can say please read the acknowledged the best I have ever read.

[Kristen Kitchen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had a ton of potential. But the author got lost. Instead of focusing on a few points of view, she jumped sporadically. Sometimes she wrote in first-person, sometimes in third-person, sometimes in third-person omniscient. It didn't flow well at all. I didn't end up feeling anything for any of the characters, past the first few chapters.

It is a shame because the first chapter started out so strong. But by the end, I was racing through the book just to be able to say I finished.

[Susan Samuelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

Absolutely excellent book. I find many books about Russia can be difficult to read. This book was easy reading. The history, the war strategy were very well written. This was a side of Napoleon I had not read. Being a female having served in the military, I can only imagine the fears that this female had. Trying to hide her identity during a war had to be nightmare in itself.

[Tiffany McElmeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great engaging story

I find this story to be absolutely amazing. The story of war and the Tsar and other main characters was so interesting to read. Plus, getting towards then end realizing it’s being narrated for one of the characters. I stayed up very late to finish this book it was that good

[Dawn Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women in history

What a remarkable woman. She runs away to fight Napoleon and convinces the Tsar to let her continue when he finds out she is a girl. She never kills anyone but get the St. George Cross for her bravery. It just goes to show us that we are hindered by our circumstances. If we want the dream to come alive, there is always a way.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

I was astonished at the end to discover that The Girl Who Fought Napoleon is a fictionalized version of a true story. Nadezhda Durova was a real woman, who seems to have done pretty much what is claimed of her in this incredible novel.

And also, just as she is in this story, Nadya is an unreliable narrator of her own life, editing out the parts that detract from her tale of bravery, battle and disguise.

As a child, Nadya was very much the daughter of her father’s regiment in the Russian army. Her mother “followed the drum” as her father served in one posting after another, and blamed Nadya’s father for seducing her away from her wealthy family, and blamed the infant Nadya for everything that was wrong with her life. When she threw the infant Nadya out of a moving carriage, it was the last straw.

Nadya ended up being raised by the soldiers, having an aide-de-camp assigned as her nursemaid and guardian. For years, she had the freedom of a young boy, riding where she wanted and living in camp away from her mother’s influence and abuse, cossetted and coddled by the soldiers who saw her as a mascot.

It all changed when her father retired. Unfortunately not the bad parts, just the good parts. In a town, Nadya found herself suddenly restricted to the closeted life of a young girl, completely under her mother’s abusive control.

At 17, she rebelled, wearing boy’s clothes and “stealing” her own horse, she escaped her mother’s plans for her marriage and ran away to join the Russian Army, disguised as a boy. In the cavalry she found the place where she belonged, even if she wasn’t quite strong enough to keep her lance steady.

She tended to let circumstances overwhelm her orders, and sometimes found herself committing an insanely brave act for the most unlikely reasons. It brought her to the attention of her commanders and eventually the Tsar. And somehow, in her tumultuous nine years as a soldier, she rose from cadet to Captain, and managed to see action on all the major Russian battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. She became a legend.

In counterpoint to Nadya’s story, we see those same years and that same war from the perspective of Tsar Alexander I, the leader who defeated Napoleon the first time around and sent him to Elba.

In Nadya’s story, we see the view of the war from, if not quite the bottom, very near it. She saw war not as glorious, but as the hell it truly is. She never sees herself as a hero. Sometimes, she barely sees herself as a survivor. Alexander, on the other hand, shows the view from the top in all its vainglory and willingness to sacrifice his army to feed his ego or vanquish his demons. It is a tortured picture, but never a pretty one in spite of its beautiful trappings.

In the end, both the soldier and the statesman pass from history into very, very different legends.

Escape Rating B: Discovering that this is mostly a true story changed some of my opinions about it. At points, it almost seemed too fantastic to hang together as fiction. But historical events don’t have to make sense, they just have to have happened. And that’s the case here.

Throughout my reading, I found myself questioning the choice of presenting Tsar Alexander’s and Nadya’s stories in alternating chapters. While the stories do cover the same period of time, their intersection is minimal, and because of this they don’t hang together well. Just as the reader gets really into Nadya’s story, the focus switches back to Alexander. And vice versa. I think this would have felt more cohesive, at least for this reader, if the story had stuck with one or the other, preferably Nadya. Her story is as bizarre as it is fascinating, and also mostly unknown outside of her native country.

We know that women have disguised themselves and fought in every war, or nearly so. Prior to the most recent era, when documentation wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous and medical exams weren’t required, it was relatively easy to pretend to be a male, at least long enough to enlist. The trick was in maintaining the illusion in the close quarters of company life. Many of the disguises failed when the female soldier was wounded, and treatment required baring more of the person than normal life at the time required.

Because this is fiction, I would have been very interested in seeing more of Nadya’s inner life than is described in these pages. As this story is based on her published diary, we see a lot of “war is hell” and also a significant amount of fear of discovery. But not much else.

The truly fascinating thing about Nadya’s story is just how unreliable a narrator she was. She did all the things she said she did, but she also left out a great deal of her early life. Notably the seven years when she married and had a child. She abandoned her family to become a soldier. In the end, she comes back not because she misses anyone or anything of her old life, but because she is sick to death of war and killing. She has seen and experienced too much. As do so many soldiers.

In the end, it was Nadya’s story that grabbed me. I wish I’d had a bit more of it.

[Siobhan McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good introduction to the author

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon told a great story that I never knew. Like any good historical fiction, I was entertained as well as enlightened