Zoya (novel)

Zoya Konstantinovna Ossupov is a Russian countess, a young cousin to Czar Nicholas II. Escaping the Russian Revolution with her grandmother and a loyal retainer, she arrives in Paris, penniless, where she must carve a new life for herself and her loved ones. There, she joins Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Against the wishes of her grandmother, who objects to consorting with those outside her class, she meets and falls in love with American GI Clayton Andrews. After World War I, they marry and move to America, where Zoya faces many joys and hardships in her life. She struggles through the Great Depression and World War II, then meets and falls for millionaire cloth merchant, Simon Hirsch, who later died in another war.

The novel depicts the Czar and his family, not just as figures in history, but as real people with feelings, trials, triumphs, sorrows and pain.

In the TV movie version, Zoya is portrayed by Melissa Gilbert. Her husband, Clayton Andrews, is portrayed by her real life former husband Bruce Boxleitner.[1] Zoya’s grandmother Evgenia is portrayed by Dame Diana Rigg.