Sebastian

“The mysterious healer was a strannik – a semi-literate, thirty-seven-year-old lay pilgrim – named Grigory Rasputin, who had been gaining a reputation in St Petersburg as a mystic and healer since his arrival there during Lent 1903.”
― Helen Rappaport, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

“St Petersburg society looked upon Grand Duchess Vladimir as the real Empress of Russia, for Alexandra now hardly ever emerged from her retirement at Tsarskoe Selo.”
― Helen Rappaport, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

“Life’, Alice resolutely told her mother in 1866, ‘is meant for work, and not for pleasure.”
― Helen Rappaport, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

“Show kindness to all, be gentle and loving, then all will love you”
― Helen Rappaport, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra