" The premise of this book is very interesting--the political, social and religious milieu that created the Holy Fool Xenia in 18th century Russia, a time period of extreme crisis spanning the 7 Years War, the death of Elizabeth, the coup of Catherine II and the formation of the elaborate court culture in St. Petersburg. However, by being told from the first-person narration of Xenia's rather conventional cousin (although Dasha married an Italian eunuch musician who promptly died, and then rushed through the last 30 years of her life adopting stray people Xenia literally left on her doorstep), the story is curiously flat. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. "
— Margaret, 1/10/2014