Wikipedia

Helen Rappaport

Helen F. Rappaport(néeWare;born June 1947), is a British author and former actress. She specialises in theVictorian eraand revolutionaryRussia.[2]

Helen Rappaport
Helen Rappaport inLondon,c. 2013
Born
Helen Ware

1947 (age 76–77)
Bromley,England
NationalityBritish
EducationBachelor of Arts
Alma materUniversity of Leeds
OccupationAuthor
Children2 daughters: Dani and Lucy[1]
Websitehelenrappaport

Early life and education

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Rappaport was born Helen Ware inBromley,grew up near theRiver Medwayin North Kent and attendedChatham Grammar School for Girls.Her older brotherMike Ware,born 1939, is a photographer, chemist, and writer.[3]She has twin younger brothers, Peter (also a photographer) and Christopher, born in 1953.[4]

She studied Russian atLeeds Universitywhere she was involved in the university Theatre Group and launched her acting career.[5]

Career

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Acting

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After acting with the Leeds University Theatre Group she appeared in several television series includingCrown Court,Love HurtsandThe Bill.[6]She later claimed to have spent '20 years in the doldrums as an out of work, broke and miserable actress'...[7]

Writing

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In the early nineties she became a copy editor for academic publishersBlackwellandOUP[5]and also contributed to historical and biographical reference works published by for exampleCassellandReader's Digest.[8]

She became a full-time writer in 1998,[5]writing three books for US publisherABC-CLIOincludingAn Encyclopaedia of Women Social Reformersin 2001, with a foreword byMarian Wright Edelman.It won an award in 2002 from theAmerican Library Associationas an Outstanding Reference Source and according to theTimes Higher Education Supplement,'A splendid book, informative and wide-ranging'.[9]

Mary Seacole

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1869 portrait ofMary Seacolediscovered by Helen Rappaport

In 2003[10]Rappaport discovered and purchased an 1869 portrait of Jamaican nurseMary SeacolebyAlbert Charles Challen.The picture now hangs in theNational Portrait Gallery.[11][12]

Mary Seacole features in Rappaport's 2007 bookNo Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean Warwhich was praised bySimon Sebag Montefioreas being 'Poignant and inspirational, well researched yet thoroughly readable' and also received positive reviews inThe TimesandThe Guardian.[13]

The Last Days of the Romanovs

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Her 2008 bookEkaterinburg:The Last Days of theRomanovsreceived many positive reviews in both the UK[14]and US[15]where it became a bestseller.[8]

Lenin

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Conspirator:Leninin Exilepublished in 2009 gained considerable publicity due to Rappaport's claim that Lenin died fromsyphilisand not a stroke.[16]

Victorian cosmetics industry

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Her 2010 book,Beautiful For Everdescribes the growth of the Victorian cosmetics industry and tells the story ofMadame Rachelwho found both fame and infamy peddling products which claimed almost magical powers of "restoration and preservation".[citation needed]

Death of Prince Albert

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Magnificent Obsessionwas published on 3 November 2011, the 150th anniversary of its subject; the death ofPrince Albert.[8]

Birth of photography

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Capturing the Light: The Birth of Photography,co-written with Roger Watson, tells the story ofHenry Fox TalbotandLouis Daguerre.Both authors took part in an event during the Edinburgh Book Festival on 14 August 2013.[17]

Caught in the Revolution

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Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 – A World on the Edgewas published in 2016 in the UK, where it received many positive reviews.[18]

Translating

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Rappaport is a fluent Russian speaker and is a translator of Russian plays, notably those ofAnton Chekhov,working withTom Stoppard,David Hare,David LanandNicholas Wright.[5]

Bibliography

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"Love is not the right word – I have found all of them intriguing and fascinating, but also at times absolutely infuriating. You don't necessarily need to like your subject to write about him or her but you do need to be curious about them and you do have to want to get at the truth".

—Rappaport, explaining her feelings towards the persons she wrote about.[19]

Non-fiction

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  • Joseph Stalin:A Biographical Companion,1999ABC-CLIO
  • An Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers,2001 ABC-CLIO
  • Queen Victoria:A Biographical Companion,2003 ABC-CLIO
  • No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in theCrimean War,2007Aurum Press
  • Ekaterinburg:The Last Days of theRomanovs,2008Hutchinson
  • Conspirator:Leninin Exile,2009 Hutchinson
  • Beautiful for Ever:Madame RachelofBond Street- Cosmetician, Con-Artist and Blackmailer,2010 Long Barn Books
  • Magnificent Obsession; Victoria, Albert and the Death that Changed the Monarchy,2011 Hutchinson
  • Capturing the Light: The Birth of Photography,2013
  • The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra,2014
  • Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 – A World on the Edge,2016
  • The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family,2018 St. Martin's Press
  • After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War,2022 St. Martin's Press
  • In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Cultural Icon,2022 Simon & Schuster UK

Fiction

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Family life

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Rappaport has two daughters.

References

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  1. ^Helen Rappaport,Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs,2008,ISBN978-0-099-52009-2
  2. ^"Helen Rappaport's top 10 books on Lenin".The Guardian.London. 2 September 2009.
  3. ^Helen mentioned her relationship in a session during the Edinburgh Book Festival on 14 August 2013. Mike Ware has investigated early photographic processes in great depth.
  4. ^"Writer Helen Rappaport reveals her love of Russia, all things Victorian and the landscape of the Medway marshes in conversation with Sylvia Vetta"(PDF).Sylviavetta.co.uk.Retrieved6 January2018.
  5. ^abcd"The Viney Agency".The Viney Agency. Archived fromthe originalon 30 August 2011.Retrieved7 October2011.
  6. ^"Helen Rappaport".IMDb.Retrieved6 January2018.
  7. ^Melanie Gow."Helen Rappaport – The Interview – Beat".Beatmagazine.co.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 5 April 2012.Retrieved7 October2011.
  8. ^abcRappaport, Helen."Helen Rappaport Biography".Helenrappaport.Retrieved6 January2018.
  9. ^Rappaport, Helen."Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers".Helenrappaport.Archived fromthe originalon 20 August 2018.Retrieved6 January2018.
  10. ^Rappaport, Helen."Helen Rappaport & Mary Seacole".Helenrappaport.Retrieved6 January2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^"Long-lost Seacole portrait found".BBC News.11 January 2005.
  12. ^"Mary Seacole - National Portrait Gallery".Npg.org.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 8 July 2013.Retrieved6 January2018.
  13. ^Rappaport, Helen."No Place for Ladies".Helenrappaport.Retrieved6 January2018.
  14. ^Rappaport, Helen."Ekaterinburg - UK Reviews".Helenrappaport.Retrieved6 January2018.
  15. ^Rappaport, Helen."The Last Days of the Rromanovs -US reviews".Helenrappaport.Archived fromthe originalon 20 August 2018.Retrieved6 January2018.
  16. ^Britten, Nick (22 October 2009)."Vladimir Lenin died from syphilis, new research claims".Telegraph.co.uk.Retrieved6 January2018.
  17. ^Rappaport, Helen."Helen Rappaport Four Sisters: The lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses".Helenrappaport.Archived fromthe originalon 25 August 2018.Retrieved6 January2018.
  18. ^Rappaport, Helen."Helen Rappaport Caught in the Revolution Petrograd 1917".Helenrappaport.Archived fromthe originalon 17 August 2018.Retrieved6 January2018.
  19. ^"Royal Monomania: Helen Rappaport | Literal Affairs".Archived fromthe originalon 19 February 2014.Retrieved2 February2014.
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