I fell in love with these books in the early 70's when I was fortunate to find them in my public library. I was enchanted with the warmth and humanity and passion which M. Troyat was able to capture and portray in this five volume series of Amelie, Pierre and Elizabeth. Fortunately, Amazon was able to locate all five of the books in various forms and now I can enjoy them at my leisure and pass them on to my friends. This is a charming and beautifully written account of life in France during World Wars I and II.

I have ten of Troyat's novels and they are all superb! The Amelie and Pierre series are written with such feeling. You "live" the characters and can hardly wait for the next book. I wish that he had continued to write about Amelie's daughter, Elizabeth. Like all great writers I guess he knew when to stop. We can only imagine what events changed their lives

Henri Troyat's "Alexander of Russia" (1980)serves as a nice sequel to his "Catherine the Great" (1977). Alexander I, Emporer of all the Russias (1801-1825) succeeded Catherine the Great (1762-1796) to the throne of the Russian Empire separated only by the brief reign of Alexander's father, Paul (1796-1801). Troyat's presentation of Alexander is a wonderful, vivid portrait of man known to history as the "enigmatic Tsar." Alexander had been provided an "enlightenment education" by his grandmother Catherine the Great. He had a fondness for liberty and a hatred of despotism and serfdom. Yet Alexander was frustrated in his hopes for reform of the Russian nation throughout the entirety of his reign.

Napoleon came to power in France and proceeded to conquer much of Europe. Suddenly, France, the traditional ally of the Russian Empire was an enemy. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 but was defeated. Alexander then played a major role in the restoration of Europe following the Napoleonic Wars. Meanwhile, reform was postponed.

Troyat has a lively writing style that holds the interests of the reader all way to the end of the book.

Imagine time-traveling with a smart gentleman who is energetic, enthusiastic, sociable, and just happened to have lived there 'then.' This is the seamless, appropriately elaborate, and richly detailed adventure one experiences in reading this book. Troyat called this book a mere "sentimental promenade,' but he was much too modest. Biographer of Flaubert, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Elizabeth I and others, he had a pre-Revolutionary Russian early childhood, and the recollections of his (refugees-to-France) family members. In this book he enthusiastically and carefully recreates the sights, sounds, smells of daily life. The peasantry, workers and their everpresent sufferings and struggles, commerce, law, food, the gentry, the tsar and his retinue, social life, the hapless serfs, plus plans, hopes, and dreams. The chapter "Moscow's Many Faces" is reminiscence, and very informative. The research is the backbone of this work, which is greatly enriched and informed by Troyat's emotional ties to -- and sensory recall of -- the time and place.

This book is a classic tale, and quite enjoyable. The protagonist is a mountain guide, Isaïe, who has had some accidents in mountain climbing expeditions, nearly died in the last, and is terrified of going back up because he feels that the mountain has sent him a sign or warning. He now raises sheep, lives alone with his younger brother Marcellin (who is the family "black sheep," a thorougly lazy, unprincipled person), but whom Isaïe loves. People view him as having become a bit of a "simpleton," and it's true that he has become a lesser person since the accidents-- hasn't led expeditions or climbed for years. Then a plane crashes in snow and ice on the mountain, and shortly thereafter, the town's leading guide dies in a rescue mission. Although the view is that there are no survivors from the crash, Isaïe ends upconfronting his own worst fear--in leading his brother up that mountain. He knows Marcellin's motive is immoral: he wants to search the plane for gold, or money that can be picked off the bodies of the dead. Still Isaïe, who fears his brother would climb on his own and perish, goes up to safeguard him, and in so doing, finds something unexpected at the top.

This book, Le bruit solitaire du coeur, dedicated to Henri Troyat's father, is really quite wonderful. The author catches with tremendous sensitivity and humanity the life of an elderly man (93 years old)--an emigré from Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, who ends up shipwrecked (metaphorically) in Paris. It is an unheroic book--unlike La neige en deuil, another favorite of mine by Troyat--but every bit as good. Troyat's protagonist, Igor Dmitrievitch Lébédev, is a man, torn between two worlds--the one of his past (the Russia that is dead, and many of the people he knew in it, along with his beloved wife, Hélène), and the shrinking world of his living, as memories of the past capture and possess. The book is without the external adventure, i.e., mountain-climbing, of the other excellent book referenced above. At times I see my own Father, also a Russian emigré, in Troyat's protagonist, Igor Dmitrievitch Lébédev, and both of their journeys through old age, memory, and illness. If play of mind and the humdrum of daily existence is essentially the offered fare here, it is, through the richness and beauty of the author's perceptions and the depth of his own humanity, more than enough!

I loved it! I was really happy to read it. Such pain and suffering for a girl who lives with her grand-parents while her widowed mother is trying to settle a better life in Paris. She misses her mother so much, will she be able to get enough love from her?

Tolstoy's biography by Troyat is thoroughly documented, and Tolstoy certainly is an interesting subject for a book. I recommend it for people looking for an authoritative source of information.

However, taken as a book to be read, not referenced, it has serious flaws. The main one, which I find inexcusable, is Troyat's comments throughout the book "explaining" Tolstoy to the reader, and being shocked at Tolstoy's inconsistencies. Troyat will show us a scene where Tolstoy lays down a plan for virtuous conduct in his diary, then breaks his own code. Troyat exclaims: "Paradox! Tolstoy is a strange man, breaking his own code". Well, Mr. Troyat, don't we all?
Then, at another instance, he will characterize, say, Turgenev's judgement of Tolstoy, as "lacking in psychology". Troyat, of course, would have known better. In other words, Troyat doesn't try to erase himself from the book, we see his footprints all over. The book should have been named "Troyat's superior knowledge of Tolstoy".

Another related problem with this book is excessive documentation. We are witness to too many changes of opinion in Tolstoy. For, say, his doubts about his feelings for Sofya Bers, this is revealing, but we are subjected to the same ceremony for each acquaintance made by Tolstoy. The point was well taken from the beginning: Tolstoy changed his opinion of himself and others very often. And again, I don't see this as strange: many people are like that. But by the fourth time I saw Tolstoy meet someone, then write on successive days "Excellent" "Superficial" "Vain" "Far superior to me" etc. I was about to give up on the book. In contrast, we don't see enough of what others thought of Tolstoy, and that is a pity, especially since the book's excessive focus on Tolstoy's inner struggle makes it grey and humorless.

To sum it up: can serve well as a reference book, but not as a novel. Read Tolstoy himself, he is more revealing.

This book is very informative yet reads as lively as a Tolstoy novel. Reading this before, during, or after you read "War and Peace" is very enlightening. Interesting the fact that the author of "War and Peace" struggled with history in school and exclaimed that history was "nothing but a heap of myths and useless, trivial details, sprinkled with dates and names". Other wisdoms include "Bronchitis is an imaginary disease! Bronchitis is a metal!" Highly entertaining. I had to deduct one star due to the fact that there is not one picture in this biography which I find quite odd.

an excellent informative book about tolstoy
most fascinating is his relationship described with Turgenev, doestevosky and later chekov. the ending is a cruel one to him as he describes feeling like a hypocrit as ghandi reads his works as his family fights over the spoils of his estate.

Catherine thhe Great, the little teenage Princess who came from germanic heritage, developed into a scheming, pitiless, yet loving ruler. The author takes us through her development with wonderful descriptions of those times. One can compare her reign in Russia with the development of the American Revolution and be astonished at the paths of the two nations. It is well worth reading and helps us understand the Russia of that time and of later times.

This is a book about a woman who wasn't perfect but had great intentions and made the best of her situation. I admire Catherine the Great immensely

The daughter of a minor German prince, it almost easy to imagine Catherine the Great came to the throne by accident. But Catherine had a mission. Almost from the day she was chosen to be the wife of Grand Duke Peter, Catherine set her sights on greater power. She suceeded, some say by murdering her own husband, Tsar Peter III.

Catherine lead the Russians in the battle for the Crimea, eventually winning the region for the empire. The book also goes extensively into the many loves of Catherine. But short of using them to define who the Tsarina was, Troyat treats them as the diversion that Catherine saw them as.

Catherine saw herself as a liberal monarch. In fact, she regularly corresponded with Volraire and Diderot. But in the end, Catherine's main accomplishment was the maintain the power of the monarchy.

I have read several of Troyat's biographies. I generally like this one but was bothered by the author's constant references to Ivan's evolving relationship to God. If Ivan explained himself in letters, then OK. But I don't like a biographer telling us "Ivan decided God had reconciled with him", an unsubstantiated inner state. Troyat is not this kind of biographer, but I would love to have had a few pages on what sources he used and how much material still exists. I actually read this on books on tape, but they usually include everything the author provides.
Other than that, what was it about east Europe of the era? We have Vlad Tsepes, Elizabeth Batory (sister of the Batory mentioned here?), and Ivan to name a few of the more notable monsters. Western Europe seems to lack the unbridled scale and variety of the east.
I found it remarkable to learn Ivan compiled lists of victems and sent them to various monasteries. I wonder how many are still extant? I found his flirtation with England to be pretty amusing. Subtle he was not. I also enjoyed the excerpts from the long-running flame wars Ivan conducted with some of his enemies.
For what it is worth, in my Russian class long ago, they said Ivan Grozny means "awe inspiring" and that he picked it himself
I recommend this to other readers, in addition to his work on Peter and Catherine. After reading this, go find the Sergei Eisenstein film in three parts on Ivan, for a really interesting Stalinist era twist on this bit of history

Lately I have been reading a lot about Russian and Soviet history and one thing that becomes very clear, is that for centuries the Russian people have had to endure some of the most barbaric, inhuman rules ever to roam the earth. During the mid-1500's, Ivan the Terrible decimated cities simply out of boredom or jealously. People around him died for no other reason than he wanted them to. The Russian populace endured almost unbelievable cruelty, yet always believed in their "father" and never really questioned his authority or even his sanity.
Author Troyat does a magnificent job of making Ivan a real person. Orphaned at a young age and mistreated by the boyars around him, Ivan spent his adult life as a pious mass murderer. Ordained by God to rule as he pleased, Ivan never questioned his cruelty and went to this death blaming others for the events that he himself caused. I have read several other Troyat biographies of famous Russians, and his is one of his best.

I had my hopes on this book and i wasnt dissapointed.The author gives a direct,impartial account of Ivan.The authoor goes into the Tsar's mind with clarity without trying to explain the whole thing. The way the author presents the story is sophisticated and full of images and action.The description of the russian court is excellent and the way it is explained is very good.I recommend this book for anyone who wants to study the life of Ivan and his times

Peter the Great, by Henri Troyat, is the excellent recreation of a crucial era in Russian history. Troyat paints a picture of Peter and his life. Peter overcame the odds as a young czar battling for his power with his half-brother Ivan, and half-sister Sophia. Peter became sole czar when he was in his twenties and started living out all of his ambitions. He built the first Russian navy, and also built St. Petersburg, which he began from nothing. His love for war and the sea led him to fight against Sweden for a large part of his life and eventually win a long coastline on the Baltic Sea. For his contributions to Russia, his labors, and his greatness in politics and battle, Peter the Great, "emperor of the Russians," is still considered a hero, even today.

peter the great is a book about an autocrat with big ideas, the power to instigate them, and the total lack of understanding about what these powers and ideas caused his people. he overtaxed them, enforced his own ideas and desires (which changed daily some times), and instituted his powers unmercifully. people didn't know from one minute to the next if their heads were secure. this was everyone from his own son to the lowest serf in the land. however, he was a man who was far-sighted, interested in everything, and tried to bring some enlightenment to everyone he ruled. he was also a man of many excesses, i.e., women, liquor, power, and many human failings the worst of which was lack of sympathy for anybody or anything. it was all or nothing as far as he was concerned. henri troyat does it again with an in-depth biography of one of history's truly fascinating monarchs.

A fascinating biography of a bizarre man, brilliant and blind, great and evil at the same time. Every page has an amazing fact or two in a work of scholarly depth that nevertheless is so well written and translated that it reads like a suspense novel.