The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire

In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.

Its 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mothers footsteps. Shes a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home.

Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectationsshe as a heroic fighter and he as a spiritual seekerwhile the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on.

In a captivating tale that brings Durovas memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process.