Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt was considered one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe. But Ella, as she was called within the family, was much more than just a pretty face.

As the founder of the Martha and Maria Convent in Moscow, she and her fellow sisters were a light in the darkness of the Russian revolutionary turmoil. This work describes Ella’s simple life as a young princess in peaceful Hesse, her dazzling world as a Russian Grand Duchess, her devout work as abbess of her convent, and her cruel death at the hands of the Bolsheviks, through which she became a saint.

Numerous illustrations complement this biography.