Twenty-five Chapters of my Life

[newfan]

The book is no longer available on eBay
It took over 3 weeks to get my book...The seller communication is not great
Its said the book is shiped from USA but its not

[Alixz]

I purchased and paid for the book on March 14.  I have just opened a complaint with eBay.

I have contacted the seller three times in the past month and each time I have been told that the book is coming - sometime.

I know that others who do not live in the US have received their copies and I have told the seller that.  I don't know where the book is coming from, but I just know that I haven't gotten it yet.

[Sarushka]

Not sure if I ordered mine from the same seller, but I made the purchase on 3 April and it arrived today from the UK.

As for the book itself, I agree with Laura. This is a very nice quality paperback. I'm pleased.

[koloagirl]

Aloha from Kaua'i!

Boy, I'll have to finish the book on Alexei that I bought at the same time so that I can dig into my copy of Twenty-five Chapters of my Life - I knew it looked good and now I'm really happy to have gotten it!   

Janet R.

[Alixz]

Well, eBay refunded my money, but I really wanted the book.

I have had no communication from aphrohead in a few weeks and I just gave up and turned it over to eBay.

I ordered the book on March 14, I was told it was shipped on March 18, but it is now April 21 and I still don't have it.

Everyone else seems to be getting theirs just fine, but somehow I guess mine slipped through the cracks.

After I am sure that it still isn't going to show up, I will probably order it from Van Hoogenstrand.  The price after conversion from euros is still not too bad.

[Laurel Rose]

Hi Alixz, 

I just ordered my copy last week from Amazon UK for about $32.00 with shipping and it has shipped already.  Hopefully you can get your ebay problem resolved and find a copy easily too.  Good luck to you. 

Laurel Rose

[s.v.markov]

I am rarely moved or excited by a 'new' Romanov-related book now ~ it seems to me that everything has been said. But this one is an exception. The simple descriptions and memories recorded here by the Grand Duchess do more to evoke those lost times than any of the more weighty history books. Two examples : 'I often think of the people who go there (to Tsarskoe Selo) and wonder whether they can hear the past whisper in the leaves of the gnarled oak trees, and are able to listen to the tongues of springs and fountains telling tales of bygone times. Perhaps they are deaf to the voices of the past.......but just sit around and pass the time on Catherine's old marble benches....', and again a little further on 'I often think of those evenings of peace and beauty among the Finnish islands (on board the royal yacht with her brother and sister-in-law and her nieces and nephew) ~ the quiet calm water and the dark outlines of the pinewoods and rocks against the evening sky. Little did we know of what was to come and the trials were to endure.....'

[katmaxoz]

I am rarely moved or excited by a 'new' Romanov-related book now ~ it seems to me that everything has been said. But this one is an exception.

I actually have to agree about this. I read a lot of Romanov memoirs and biographies...but then stopped for many years as they all seemed to be repeating themselves. All variations on the same story. However, I did buy and read this book and enjoyed it.  Grand Duchess Olga stands out from the Romanov crowd as a lady who didn't let her exalted birth totally dictate her life, but had enough compassion and sense of duty to help those worse of than herself even when it was inconvenient and detrimental to her own future prospects.

[historyfan]

This thread is making me seriously consider going into debt for this book!

[Constantinople]

Here is a review of the book
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/5930798/a-bolt-from-the-blue.thtml
the editor, Paul Kulikovsky, no lives in Moscow where he does many things including researching archtectural history.

[tea_rose]

  If anyone outside of UK is still looking for this book, I just ordered it from bookdepository.com for about $15.60 with free shipping internationally.  I think this is the best option for an American address.  I have used this site before and been satisfied but I was surprised and pleased to see that I could order this book from them.  It usually takes about a week or so to reach me.  I am excited!

[Constantinople]

thanks for the advice.

[Alexander1917]

it is also available at http://www.majestymagazine.com/ look at shop and search for UK/Europe  GBP 14.99 or US $33.00

[Alixz]

I finally ordered it from Amazon a few days ago and I have already received a shipping confirmation.  If it comes media mail it will take some time, but I trust Amazon.  I paid about $23 USD including s/h.

After waiting all this time for the eBay seller aphrohead to do the right thing, I thought I would try again.

Looking forward to receiving it.  I almost passed, but everyone seems to like it and the quotes above remind me of the way I look at history.  I always wonder if the past is whispering around us, but we are too busy and too preoccupied to hear it.

I actually just had a piece published in our local paper and here is a part of it to show you what I mean.

The Prospect Drum Corps organized in 1949 by Dorothy Harlow and her husband Len was disbanded earlier this year and the familiar sound of fifes and drums and trumpets and the commands once called by countless majors and color guard captains are now echoes heard only by those of us who used to be members of the once dynamic combination drum corps.

.....

The Green in Prospect is now a quiet place on Friday nights and even Community School looks sleepy with windows like eyes half closed as there is now no one to watch marching or making music in the parking lot or on the newly mowed grass where the monument to Civil War Soldiers keeps constant vigil.

The piece is called FRIDAY NIGHT SILENCE. It is an indirect reference to a US TV show called FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS which is about American football played "under the lights" on Friday nights.  My intention was to show not only that the 60 year old tradition of marching in the drum corps had come to an end but that part of the reason was that now young people go to sports events on Friday nights and have no time for marching and music.

But I often go into old houses or to sites that commemorate great upheaval or battle and try to listen for the echos of the voices of the past.  I do believe that the past is whispering all around us.  And I believe that on any given Friday Night, I could go to the Green in Prospect and hear, in the new silence, the voices of those who once marched, made music, and laughed and grew up together over the 60 years that the corps left its imprint on that piece of the town.

[Constantinople]

Let me know how you like it and I will pass on any positive comments to Paul.