Bodega Bay, California – Everybody knows that Alaska used to belong to Russia. But most people don’t realize that the Russians were actively exploring, hunting, trading and settling the Pacific Northwest, starting in the late 18th century. Yes, settling–like Russian…
TODAY is the day that readers all over Finland finally get their long-awaited copies of The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure. Knowing the Finns, there are probably stampedes at the libraries and brawls in the bookstores. The book has a different publisher…
As I wrote here, The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure came out in the Netherlands in November. It has a different title and a different cover, but it’s the same fascinating story. And the Dutch are loving it. Most recently, the book received a four-star…
We have noted the popular fascination with Catherine the Great. While the Russian Empress may be among the trendier rulers from this period, historian Catherine Curzon points out that the Georgian era (1914-1837) was rife with “unique, eccentric and flamboyant monarchs.”…
An excerpt from The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure appeared in the Daily Beast! “A ghostly shipwreck, a lost masterpiece painting, a lustful tsarina, the news of the Vrouw Maria’s discovery stirred imaginations in the summer of 1999. It also sparked questions, namely:…
Somerville, Mass – Things are starting to get real! Our book, The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure, now has a website AND a few book reviews. Most recently, Jerry and I gave an interview on The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure for the excellent…
Somerville, Mass – What? Why yes, that is Publisher’s Weekly calling our book a “meticulously researched history” and an “intriguing portrait of an art world mystery.” (It doesn’t really rhyme in the review. That was my unintentional poetic flare.) Read…
Somerville, Mass – Way back in 2013, I wrote about embarking on a new project with Daddio. We had this crazy idea to write a book together–not a guidebook, not an academic book, but a narrative nonfiction book. About a…
Somerville, Mass – The twins have been studying poetry in 3rd grade, inspired by Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsong poems. Today, the school invited the families into the classrooms to hear the kids recite their own poems. I was tickled that V…
Somerville, Mass – While we were in Italy, I decided that our international experiment in education would benefit from special world schooling research projects — something more formal than our field trips and fun explorations around Italy, but less formal…