The Empress of Tears

By: Kathleen McKenna Hewtson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

As the ‘Funeral Bride,’ Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt marries Tsar Nicholas II only a week after the premature death of his father, Tsar Alexander III. Already dismissed out of hand by the court, Alexandra has to further contend with the continuing ambition of her mother-in-law, the Dowager-Empress Minnie, who has no intention of ceding imperial precedence to the new Empress or of giving up one inch of her power and influence over her emotionally-dependent son, the new Tsar. Nevertheless, Empress Alexandra is determined to stamp her authority on Russia as a whole and on Nicholas in particular, but to do so she must produce an heir. Having given birth to daughter after daughter after daughter, she becomes desperate and turns to the first of her mystical advisors, Msgr. Philippe, who persuades her, among other things, that she is invisible. And then comes the moment of her greatest triumph with the birth of her son and the heir to the throne of all the Russias, the Tsarevich Alexei. All six volumes are (planned) as follows: 1. 'The Funeral Bride' 1884-1894 - published November 2015 2. 'The Empress of Tears' 1895-1904 - published March 2016 3. 'The Shaken Throne' 1904-1907 - published July 2016 4. 'The Pride of Eagles' 1907-1913 - published May 2017 5. 'No Greater Crown' 1914-1917 - published September 2018 6. ' The Far Kingdom' 1917 - 1918 - published December 2020

Solid second installment

I enjoyed this second book on Empress Alix and will be continuing on to read the next three books left in the series. While I’ve had a complicated love-hate relationship with Alix’s character and this book touched on her duality as a good mother but selfish and narcissistic. Can’t wait to read more