In the end, Nik was correct. It took me over twenty years, but I did write it. And during this protracted process, the list of people who helped me along the way is lengthy . . .
Firstly, I would like to thank the London College of Psychic Studies for their joyful, fascinating, inclusive, and inquisitive approach to life. Nowhere else can a complete novice learn to scry, read palms, study mediumship, and meet themself in a past life. I am extremely grateful to my teachers for their kindness, knowledge, and patience, most especially Robin Lown, who has put up with me in his palmistry class for the last four years.
I would also like to thank the amazing Katya Galitzine. Her knowledge of all things Russian is unsurpassed, her friendship is boundless, and she is the only person I know who would happily break into Znamenka with me, marching up that daunting tree-lined drive, just as the sun was setting, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I have bored her with my questions, raided her bookshelves, and sat for hours in the stunning Prince George Galitzine Memorial Library in St. Petersburg, where I researched a lot of this book, taking notes from its volumes of incredible and rare books. Thank you.
There have been many other generous and kind friends who have helped and supported me along the way. The wonderful Daisy Waugh, who kept me going, plying me with wine, pizza, life-affirming good advice, and supportive tarot! The incredible Jessica Adams, writer, astrologer, and very good friend whose wise words, knowledge of the world of magic, mystery, and spirit, and ability to manifest cabs at 2 A.M. are invaluable.
There are many others who listened to me endlessly discuss Militza and Stana and what they did, and what they might have thought, worn, ate, chatted about. For your patience, allowing for my repetitious anecdotes and one-track-mindedness, I thank you: Candace Bushnell, Claudia Winkleman, Sarah Vine, Anne Sijmonsbergen, Sean Langan, Ciara Parkes, James Purefoy, Sebastian Scott, Peter Mikic, Susanna Michaelis, Jennifer Nadal, Rebecca Frayn, Joanne Cash, Eleanor Tattersfield, Bella Pollen, Katie Walker, and, very especially, Tina Cutler and the fabulous Jane Gottschalk. Your wit, wine, and wisdom were gratefully received.
My sister, Leonie, the saint, who read, reread, and re-reread the many versions of the manuscript until 3 A.M., thank you. My stepfather, Colin Campbell—you edit like a dream. My incredible mother, Scarlett, you rock! My wonderful, handsome husband, Kenton—for listening to yet another anecdote or idea like you’ve never been asked the same question before.
Special mention goes to my agent, Eugenie Furniss, who walked with me every step of the way with this—nearly ten years in the writing as she read and retweaked and reread and edited and advised—thank you! You are a very good friend.
To my wonderful editor, Sara Nelson, who got it. To all at HarperCollins—you’re brilliant and fabulous and a joy to work with—thank you. And to Michael McCoy at Independent—let’s do this!
Also to Joth Shakerley, who was there that night at the kitchen table in Moscow and who has been there always. I love you. Your positivity, support, and deft swipe with a salted fish move mountains. You are the best of friends.
And lastly my children, Allegra and Rafe (whose knowledge of Rasputin is now encyclopedic): Thank you for letting me sit, think, and be. Thank you for your love and understanding. I love you both very much—and I promise I am now out of the office!
About the Author
IMOGEN EDWARDS-JONES is an award-winning journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. She is the author of the bestselling Babylon series of industry exposés, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. The first book in the series was adapted into Hotel Babylon, the returning prime-time BBC One TV series. She is the editorial consultant on Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia.
She read Russian at Bristol University. An honorary Cossack, she traveled extensively in the old Soviet Union, writing a travel book, The Taming of Eagles: Exploring the New Russia, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
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P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
About the Book
* * *
The Story Behind the Story
Read On
* * *
Further Reading Other Books on or Around the Subject
About the Book
The Story Behind the Story
The story of The Witches of St. Petersburg has haunted me ever since my lovely friend, then war correspondent and documentary producer Nikolai Antonov, sat me down in his tiny kitchen and opened a large bottle of tepid vodka. That was more than twenty-five years ago, back in 1992, when Nik was still alive and I was a reporter for the British press, researching the story of the collapse of communism during the dying days of the Soviet Union.
Sitting around the gray, Formicatopped table in his flat in the outskirts of Moscow, Nik talked into the night and the more vodka we drank and the more pickles we ate, the greater and more magnificent the story became: two princesses who brought down an empire and destroyed a dynasty on the roll of one die. No matter how many other books I wrote, or other stories that engrossed me, those princesses would always be there, lurking in the background. It was almost as if they were biding their time, waiting for the right moment, for the stars to be aligned, in order to tell their story.
And what a story! Sisters, known as the Black Princesses because of their dark hair and pitch-black eyes, who were obsessed with black magic and the occult, who isolated the tsarina and helped her try to produce the son and heir that she so desperately needed. And then, when their power was waning, trickling through their fingers like sand, they introduced Rasputin into the Russian court. And with that, the fate of the sisters and the empire was sealed.
Having read Russian at university, I have long been fascinated by this period in history—the lavish excess, the beauty, the turbulence, and the terrible tragedy of it all. But I also have always thought that because the tsar kept himself so very isolated from his people, that what happened at home within the confines of his various splendid palaces impacted him and his rule more than most of the politics of the day. In short, this was in fact a female story that should be told from a female perspective in the hope that the fresh light might be startling and illuminating.
Researching these amazing women has been a long and arduous process. They were like wisps who danced through the pages of history, their feet so light they barely left a trace. I would find a snippet here, a sentence there, and so very few of the stories ever tallied. But what was certain and what is true was that they were there, at the heart of it all, every step of the way, with their spells and their schemes and their plans.
Their country, Montenegro, was beautiful, yet feudal at the time, with few roads, no sanitation, and no real army to speak of. Through their efforts, their negotiations, and their incredible determination as they paced the marble halls of St. Petersburg, they managed to launch their homeland forward centuries in mere decades. They secured its future. They brought it onto the world stage, creating the foundation of the modern Montenegro of today.
There have been so many brilliant and delightful moments when foraging for facts and details on the lives of Grand Duchess Militza Nikolayevna and her younger sister Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna, but none was more shocking than when I visited the basement rooms of the Yusupov Palace, where Rasputin was murdered. For there, on the wall of the palace, near the waxwork models of Rasputin and Prince Felix Yusupov and his other coconspirators was a photograph of the sisters. Their black hair and their black eyes were unmistakable; they stopped me in my tracks. It was the first time I had seen their faces. I stared. It was as if they’d been lurking there in the darkness, waiting to be discovered.
In an effort to understand their way of thinking and the skills they were capable of, I joined the London College of Psychic Studies. Formerly the London Spiritualist Alliance, it was set up at the beginning of the last century as an expression of gratitude from the bereaved of the First World War who were desperate to co
ntact their dead fathers, sons, and lovers. It was chaired at one point by the famous Sherlock Holmes author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There, I was introduced to the world of mediumship, tarot, palmistry, scrying (crystal ball reading), and many other magnificent things. The college also has one of the more fascinating libraries in the world with the most extraordinary books, some of which come from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s personal collection.
Somewhat overwhelmed by the choice and selection on offer, I asked a friend which books I should choose. She told me simply that I should stand in the middle of the room and the books I needed would make themselves known to me. Which I did. And the first book to “leap” off the shelf was Witchcraft by Charles Alva Hoyt, a whole new journey in itself!
As I finished The Witches of St. Petersburg and stepped away from the keyboard, I have to say I felt suddenly, incredibly bereft. Militza and Stana have been with me for so long they are practically part of my own family. I have gotten married and had two children while trying to write their story, and it is now extremely hard to let go. I still think about them all the time; I still see them everywhere. Out of the corner of my eye. In the mirror when I wash my face. But most of all I hear them in the voices of women who are still struggling to be heard. For they had been painted out of history, glossed over in favor of supposedly more significant figures. But they were there, right at the center of things, they saw and heard everything, and they have an important story to tell.
I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you.
www.imogenedwardsjones.com
Read On
Further Reading Other Books on or Around the Subject
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. No one is better than Massie at explaining the grand sweeping scope of the era. I read Nicholas and Alexandra on the way to Australia and did not sleep all the way. My boarding pass is still inside the book as a bookmark.
The Bathhouse at Midnight—Magic in Russia by W. F. Ryan. An amazing in-depth study of magic in Russia. It was my go-to bible for all things after dark.
Rasputin—The Holy Devil by Rene Fulop-Miller. By far the juiciest, most salacious, most entertaining biography of Rasputin. First published in 1928.
Rasputin—A Short Life by Frances Welch. Small and perfectly formed, this biography is packed with detail and delight. It even has his telephone number in it—St. Petersburg 64646!
Four Sisters—The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses by Helen Rappaport. A fantastic book that not only humanizes the girls but also tells of their lives in incredible detail.
The Jewels of the Romanovs—Family and Court by Stefano Papi. Incredible photographs with amazing stories and sumptuous page after sumptuous page of glittering diamonds, emeralds, and pearls. Riches that you cannot believe.
St. Petersburg—The Hidden Interiors by Katya Galitzine. There is no better way to orientate yourself through the plush drawing rooms of the city. Beautiful photographs and amazing historical detail. It was invaluable during my research.
Rasputin—His Malignant Influence and His Assassination by Prince Felix Youssoupoff (another way of spelling Yusupov), translated by Oswald Rayner (yes, him!). An extraordinary piece of written history!
Rasputin by Douglas Smith. Huge, thorough, and myth busting. The latest and possibly the best researched biography there is.
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE WITCHES OF ST. PETERSBURG. Copyright © 2019 by Imogen Edwards-Jones. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Sarah Bibel
Cover photographs © Katya Evdokimova/Arcangel (woman with apple); © hatipoglu/ iStock/Getty Images (black pouch); © MediaProduction/ iStock/Getty Images (apple texture); © Wilqkuku/Shutterstock (background texture)
Title page photograph by Corrado Baratta/Shutterstock
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition JANUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-284852-9
Version 12072018
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-284851-2
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