February 14, 2022
Empress Aurora: A Novel
S. I. Ossipov
Lune Tune & Tale (2022)
ISBN: 979-8-985064-1-6
Unconventional Novel Explores Loves and Woes of Fictional Russian Empress
S. I. Ossipov’s debut novel Empress Aurora is a surprising and enjoyable excursion through a fictionalized eighteenth-century version of Eastern Europe and Russia, as seen through the eyes of Aurora, princess of the mythical Rubravia.
Aurora, nicknamed Rory, grows up as the younger sister of Crown Prince Kiplund, the golden boy of his kingdom. Rory adores him, but when Kip dies unexpectedly, she finds herself unwillingly having to take over the throne.
Author Ossipov plays fast-and-loose with the eighteenth century, being historically accurate and yet playful, allowing Aurora to learn martial skills from a Japanese sensei, attend a military academy disguised as a boy, and even learn the art of espionage.
Most fascinating of all is Aurora’s first marriage, which ultimately leads to her becoming a powerful empress. How Aurora weds Alexander, the Russian emperor, is too entertaining to spoil here, but they go on to have an intriguing relationship.
Ossipov fills the novel with plenty of humor, but Aurora and Alex also experience their full share of sorrow and tribulation. The novel asks some probing questions about life, death, and personal identity. Aurora struggles with determining who she is without her parents and brother after they die. Perhaps the most haunting and true passage in the novel for me, having lost my own brother, was “It is said that when you lose a parent, you lose your past. When you lose a child, you lose your future. But when you lose a sibling, you lose both past and future. The loss of her only sibling was agonizing to Rory.”
As for marriage, Aurora finds herself struggling with her husband’s being the dominant partner, then learning to compromise with him. We are shown the royal couple raising their children, then losing children. We see their marital squabbles, moments of being cold to one another, their deep, abiding love, and their sexual escapades.
Yes, sexual escapades. Empress Aurora is a romance novel full of erotic moments. Readers who do not enjoy explicit sex scenes may want to stay away, but Ossipov’s portrayal of the royal couple’s relationship realistically gets to the heart and truth of the pleasurable soul-bonding that can be achieved when two people physically couple out of deep love. The scenes are tasteful, all the sex happening within marriage and resulting in many babies eagerly welcomed.
Lovers of historical fiction will have fun picking out where Ossipov knowingly strays from the historical record, but most of the book is meticulously researched, down to the very details of what people in Russia would have eaten at the time, the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and royal protocol.
Throughout the story, we watch Aurora grow up and grow wiser. She is not perfect, but she does her best to rear her children, love her husband, and be the best ruler possible. One of the most moving passages in the novel concerns parenting:
“Someone once wrote that he liked parents because parents were better people. Parents are people who love, who know that the world is not just about them, who sacrifice their time, their energy, and their wealth for the sake of another being very dependent upon them. Parents appreciate the village of many supportive others and understand their place in the line of generations—their ancestors before and their descendants after.”
Aurora is a good mother to her children, and she also realizes she must be a good mother to the Russian people. She seeks to modernize and improve her empire, being ahead of her time in seeking to educate women and create national healthcare. She even disguises herself so she can go out among her people to learn how to help them even more.
Empress Aurora is an intelligent, clever, literary, and yet eminently readable novel. It is the perfect book for book clubs, especially women’s groups, but men will also be captivated. It’s a visionary book that makes for not just an entertaining read, but provides space for self-reflection about your own life and your place within the universe, which is what all great literature ultimately should do.
For more information about Empress Aurora: A Novel and S. I. Ossipov, visit www.lunetunetale.com. The book is available at Amazon.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and Award-Winning Author of The Gothic Wanderer and Arthur’s Legacy
