Her Bright Spirits

IMPORTANT NOTES

A NOTE ON DATES

For the purposes of historical accuracy, all the dates in Her Bright Spirits are from the Julian calendar. Until 1918, Russia was one of the last countries in the world that still used the Julian Calendar (sometimes known as the Old Style calendar); most countries had been using the Gregorian Calendar (the standard calendar we use today) for several centuries. The Romanov family continued to observe the Julian Calendar even after Russia had formally made the switch in February 1918. This is why, for example, the chapter concerning Marie's birthday will be headed "14 June" but if you look her up on Wikipedia it will say her birthday is 26 June. It works a bit like a time zone, 14 June and 26 June are the same day, the same way 12:30pm in London is 15:30pm in Moscow.

There is a method to working out the Gregorian equivalent of a Julian date. In the nineteenth century, the Gregorian date was twelve days ahead (hence Marie's Julian birthday, 14 June 1899, becomes 26 June 1899). In the twentieth century, it was thirteen days ahead (so Anastasia's Julian birthday, 5 June 1901, is 18 June 1901 in the Gregorian calendar).

Her Bright Spirits takes place in the twentieth century, meaning the way to work out the Gregorian date is to add thirteen.

A NOTE ON PHOTOGRAPHS

For an additional element of authenticity, photographs of the real people depicted in this novel are included in the chapters. The photographs featured here come from a range of sources, some of which will be listed in the sources section that will provided at the end of the book.

Photographs that bear the watermark Гарф are owned by the Russian state archive, GARF. From what I understand, these photographs can be used without express permission from GARF as long as it is not for commercial use.

A NOTE TO YOU

Her Bright Spirits, though it employs some artistic licence, is a project very close to my heart and I hope my research and love for this subject comes through in the writing.

If you start reading and find you're enjoying Her Bright Spirits, I would like very much to know. Encouragement is important fuel for authors, especially ones like me who are exploring their style and discovering themselves as a writer. Comments are lovely, if you're able to write one, or clicking that little star.

And with that, I take my leave. I hope the tale of these four fascinating sisters entices you to stick around, and I hope I've done them justice.