Ground-breaking, gripping and evocative, The Race to Save the Romanovs is major new work of investigative history that will completely change the way in which we see the Romanov story. Finally, here is the truth about the secret plans to rescue Russia's last imperial family. On 17 July 1918, the whole of the Russian Imperial Family was murdered. There were no miraculous escapes. The former Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their children - Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey - were all tragically gunned down in a blaze of bullets. On the 100-year-anniversary of these brutal murders, historian Helen Rappaport sets out to uncover exactly why the Romanovs' European royal relatives and the Allied governments all failed to get them out of Russia to safety. In this incredible detective story, Rappaport draws on an unprecedented range of unseen sources, tracking down missing documents, destroyed papers and covert plots to liberate the family by land, sea or even sky. Through countless twists and turns, this revelatory work unpicks many false claims and conspiracies, revealing the fiercest loyalty, bitter family rivalries and devastating betrayals.

The failure to free the Romanovs was not, ever, a simple case of one British King's loss of nerve. In this race against time, many other nations and individuals were facing political and personal challenges of the highest order as the Romanovs, imprisoned, awaited their fate.