Dear Bob,
Many years ago, Prince Alexis Scherbatow told me not to read that book (Marchanow sp?) and that it was a fabrication (his mother was a Bariatinskaya, and a friend of the Empress, I believe.)
The other book which is a total fake is "Diary of a Princess" by one Ekaterina Meshcherskaya. The Meshcherskys are one of Russia's greatest old families, and were patrons of Karamzin, the first great Russian historian.
This "memoir" is a sham, and includes photographs of "Princess" Meshcherskaya standing in front of "her" palace destroyed by the bolsheviks (actually it is a recognizable building belonging to an altogether different family.).
Her book is full of real and interesting stories, but because she lies about so much, none of them can really be used as research. For example, she reports (which is true) that right after the revolution, people were asked to come to the banks, and empty their safe deposit boxes. the only things confiscated were diamonds and precious metals -- this is true, and as a result, some went home lucky enough to have kept their emeralds, pearls, sapphires, and rubies, as well as colored diamonds -- Varvara Kelch, a patron of Faberge, made it out of Russia with her famous blue diamond in much the same way.
Best,
Nick