Revisiting a post from 2020: My grandmother did not spend her last Easter in Russia at the beautiful Assumption Cathedral in Novorossiysk (pic above) but she did help decorate it on the Saturday afternoon before Easter, as described in her book, Upheaval. She was in Novorossiysk in the spring of
Apparently the difference between a shell and a bomb, is that one is shot from a platform (ground or ship, etc) and the other is dropped from the air or, in some cases left to be exploded by a timer. I don’t really need to know the exact differences to
I believe my maternal grandparents, Olga and Paul Woronoff, never saw the revolution coming, and they certainly didn’t think the turmoil, violence and bloodshed would last. Coming closely on the heels of World War I, it must have been a time of such uncertainty but even so, in their minds,
My grandmother, Countess Olga Kleinmichel; my mother, Tatiana Woronoff; and me, Alexandra de Fircks, all around the same age, although as only my mother’s photo and mine have dates, I can’t be exact but I guesstimate my grandmother was also around 6 or 7 when her photo was taken. Clockwise:
What inspired you to revisit and revise your grandmother’s memoir for a second edition? That was a question I was asked during the book launch for the 2nd edition of Upheaval and a question which I’m often asked by both friends and contacts on social media. I never envisaged revisiting
Ever since I started researching my ancestors I’ve wanted to ask them questions. Why did my maternal grandparents leave the vineyard in France? Why did my father’s sister move to Peru? Why did my paternal grandfather study iridology? There is so much I wish I knew about the decisions they