We are not related to FannyLear at all, but 5 years ago when my husband gave me one of the 30 books that she wrote and were sold (a very expensive book), I decided to search the French newspapers of the time.Well, I found a lot of articles, specially in Le Figaro. I researched day by day from 1869 to 1886 and I have a high folder full of them. Also from Philadelphia, and the National Archives. It was unbelievable when I found anything, very exciting. Then we decided to check in Russia, where there is nothing not even his birth certificate. Then France, where we found her death certificate. The best was Uzbekistan - we were able to speak to an Historian that researches the life of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, he took us to see the palace and gave us a lot of information. In fact he is going to translate my book into uzbeck. The palace is in the middle of Tashkent and nobody knows anything about it, about the person who lived there, etc. He does not know anything about Fanny Lear and is very pleased that I wrote a book with her book's translation, so people in Tashkent can learn about the Grand Duke. The palace is absolutely beautiful and also the Tashkent Museum of Arts has his art collection including the marble statue that he commissioned in Italy. It is a life size statue.In the overall it was a wonderful experience.
Eva McDonald
(Amelia)
