The Princess of Siberia

Christine Sutherland

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Review

This historical biography recounts one of the most romantic stories of the nineteenth century.  In 1824 Maria married Prince Sergei Volkonsky.  He was rich, aristocratic, about the most eligible bachelor in Russia.  But unknown to her he was deeply involved in the disastrous Decembrist Revolt on the first day of Nicholas I's reign.  He was arrested on the day their son was born and, together with 125 of the brightest young men in Russia, sentenced to hard labour and exile in Siberia.  Overcoming the Tsar's and her family's opposition, Maria followed Sergei 4000 miles to Siberia.  She was allowed to do this only on condition that she renounce her wealth, name and the right ever to return.

For 12 years she and the few other Decembrist wives helped sustain their husbands and comrades in penal servitude.  It was through the women, who were allowed to write and receive letters, that the men had contact with the West.  Meanwhile, Maria's first son died but she had two more children in Siberia; she also had a love affair.  Later, when the period of hard labour ended Maria moved to Irkutsk where she became known as the Princess of Siberia for her good works.  With the death of the vindictive Nicholas I, an Amnesty was granted and Maria returned to the West with Sergei after 26 years, a living legend.

This wonderful book is quite accessible to anyone unfamiliar with the background history, but it is also a valuable account of a historical episode which deserves more attention.  The Decembrist Revolt may have been a fiasco and the thinking behind it confused and often naïve, but its protagonists were an inspiration to the reformers who came after them, and to Siberia.  The verve with which Sutherland writes about them makes them irresistible also to her readers: everyone enjoys this book! - review by Johnny de Falbe