Olga

About the Author

Carina Hamilton is the great-great grandaughter of Olga de Lebedeff (Olga Lebedeva), whose photograph and its inscription prompted her to undertake years of research into Olga's life. The research became a book during the Covid pandemic. Carina studied Spanish and Russian at St Andrews University, which enabled her to work on the multilingual sources she came across in archives across Europe. She is currently Co-Principal at East West College in Farnham, a centre for the study of Chinese Medicine for acupuncturists.

Contributions

By Marilyn Booth Professor Emerita, Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Chair for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Professorial Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford 2014-23. This volume includes Professor Booth's translation of an Arabic biography of Olga de Lebedeff dated 1907, and an Appreciation of Olga's translation work from Arabic into French.

Book Summary

'Olga de Lebedeff – A Life Across Empires' is the story of a Russian scholar at the turn of the twentieth century whose intellectual journey spanned the grandeur of Tsarist Russia. The epic story of Olga de Lebedeff also immerses the reader in a rarely seen multicultural world in the late Imperial period, when many Russian intellectuals were more integrated into European society. Olga's activities as scholar and activist shed light on the intersection between the Russian sphere of influence rooted in Orthodoxy and the Islamic world.

Goddaughter to Tsar Alexander II, Olga was born in St Petersburg in 1852. She married the Mayor of Kazan, a Chamberlain of the Tsar, and for many years studied languages in Kazan with Jadid scholars, in Constantinople with high-ranking Ottomans and in Cairo with a sheikh at the al Azhar university.

With access to both men and women intellectuals in Europe as well as in those cities, she reflected on cultural differences and commonality, promoting cultural exchange and progressive education. As well as being a scholar of Turkic and Arabic languages, Olga was an advocate for women. Her inspiration led her to found the Society of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg in 1900.

Divided into two main sections, Book One describes Olga's family background in St Petersburg, her early marriage and family life followed by her life's work. Book Two contains first-time translations into English of several of her works including The Emancipation of Muslim Women from the French, and her account of the life and works of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, entitled The Poet Pushkin originally written in Ottoman Turkish.

This account preserves the memory and legacy of a tenacious and engaging personality, whose curiosity and interest in other cultures opened many previously closed doors. Drawing on personal papers and historical research, the author offers a unique window into a vanished world. Olga’s story is one of scholarship, survival, and cultural memory across one of history’s most transformative eras.

Key Details

Title: Olga de Lebedeff – A Life Across Empires: A Scholar’s Quest from Tsarist Russia to the Bosphorus and Beyond

Author: Carina Hamilton

First published in 2024

Genre: Biography / History / Russian and Ottoman Studies / Gender Studies

Formats: Print-on-Demand Paperback

Pages: 465

Availability: From Independent Booksellers and via Ingram Spark. In the UK: Cornucopia Bookshop, Daunt Books, Waterstones, Foyles, Quaker Bookshop Friends House, Watkins Books, Amazon

ISBN: 978-1-7394294-1-6

Short Description

A richly told biography of Olga de Lebedeff (1852–1933), a Russian scholar whose life spanned the height and collapse of Imperial Russia. From St. Petersburg salons to quiet exile in the Italian Alps, the reader is immersed into a rarely seen multicultural world in the late Imperial period, and outlines how as well as a scholar, Olga was an early advocate for the rights of Muslim women. Her life pivoted between the Russian sphere of influence rooted in Orthodoxy and the Islamic world.

Contact & Media Inquiries

For interviews, review copies, or event invitations, please contact:
Carina Hamilton
Email: pomegranatestar@icloud.com

Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/PomegranateStarPublishing

Letters to the author

By Ivan Hutnik, Editor

'Your book is both beguiling and entertaining. You have convinced me that the achievements of your ancestor, Olga de Lebedeff, are both impressive and important. Olga is important to European history in her work, in countering the dominantant Orientalist narrative, in her intimate knowledge of the Ottoman empire and almost unique exposure to the life of the harem, as well as in her knowledge of Ottoman Turkish and Tatar languages. Along with her role as a translator of Russia works, her engagement with the Islamic world is equally important.'

By Douglas Smith, Author, 11 Feb 2026

Your book was excellent—I learned a great deal of Russia in those years I didn’t know and the story you tell of your ancestor is remarkable.

By Reina Lewis, Emerita Professor of Cultural Studies, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

23 December 2025

What a wonderful project, and what fascinating material. The book's illuminating account of the Imperial Russia and Tatar context is gripping, and provides rich insights into the Constantinople/Ottoman/Egyptian reformist and feminist circles with which I was more familiar. I can only imagine the labour involved in translating so much primary material, and how wonderful that it is now available to share with scholars and interested readers through this captivating book.

‍

Reviews

By Carol Ermakova, 6 November 2024, Waterstones

“Fascinating!”

'Carina Hamilton has dug deep into family archives to discover the inspirational story of her great-great grandmother, Olga de Lebedeff (1852-1933). A remarkable woman and goddaughter to Tsar Alexander II, Olga was fluent in Russian, Ottoman Turkish and Tartar and travelled widely. As well as engaging family photographs, letters and anecdotes, this unique book contains more scholarly sections alongside first-ever translations of works by Olga, such as a short appreciation of the life of famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin with synopses of his major works, first published in 1891 in Istanbul with a foreword by the remarkable Ottoman publisher Ahmed Midhat translated by Şehnaz & Aykut Gürçağlar.

Like her intrepid relative, Carina Hamilton has spread her wings here, translating passages from Russian, French, Italian, German, and even Tartar, to embark on her own adventure across empires, through time and space. Olga de Lebedeff - A Life Across Empire is an enthralling story, so relevant to the world we find ourselves in now, and Carina has struck a perfect balance between the academic and the anecdotal.'

_______________

5.0 out of 5 stars We can learn much from this story of an exceptional woman

Reviewed on Amazon in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2025

By Jennifer Browning, 2nd March 2025, Waterstones “Challenges accepted views on 19th century women”

I first picked up this book because of an interest in late Imperial Russia. Although it wasn’t what I expected, I discovered a remarkable story – one that deserves a wider audience than an academic book of this type typically attracts.Olga de Lebedeff, the great-great grandmother of author Carina Hamilton, would be regarded as exceptional in our own time. In late 19th century Russia she was extraordinary. She was born in St Petersburg, but unusually among the fashionable circles of the time, she chose to look to the East, rather than Europe for her life’s work. Married (to the Mayor of Kazan) and with children, she had great freedom to travel and study, becoming fluent in Tatar and Turkish as well as speaking Arabic and studying Sanskrit. She went on to translate the greats of Russian literature into Tatar and Turkish, believing this would help improve the education of Tatars and further multicultural integration. She founded the Society of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg in 1900. However, it is perhaps her fearless work in publicising the position of Muslim women that will resonate the most with today’s readers. Structurally, the book’s narrative is at times idiosyncratic, occasionally going at a tangent to explore and explain. The second part comprises some original translations, including Olga de Lebedeff’s essay on Pushkin. The author’s thorough research cannot be faulted, although the density of detail can sometimes impinge on the storyline for the more casual reader. However, the reward is a book that challenges accepted views on the role and freedoms of women of that time, educates on life away from St Petersburg/Moscow-centric society especially surrounding the Tatars and throws precious light on the still topical problem of ethnic groups wanting to maintain an individual culture within an integrated diverse society. It also set me thinking about all the untold stories of women in history and how much we could gain by learning from them.

____________

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Peter Furtado Fascinating portrait of a remarkable woman

Reviewed on Amazon in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2024

This is a work of impressive and genuine scholarhip about an interesting figure as well as a personal exploration of an unusual family history . It's a book that works on many levels, both a personal exploration, the story of a remarkable individual life, an insight into Russian culture before the revolution, into late 19th century feminism, into the religious insights of those times, into the politics and culture of the Black Sea and Caucasus.It includes source material as well as commentary, making for an unusual book, but one that engages the reader and helps them deal with a lot of unfamilar material.Because of its complexity, some parts inevitably attract a reader more than others. For me, the material on de Lebedeff's work on the role of women in a Muslim society was probably the most interesting, perhaps because it feels the most contemporary (the world she is was talking about is still with us, whereas much of the high Russian prerevolutionary culture, and the Ottoman world, feel as if they happened on a different planet. But it’s good to be reminded that they existed, and were of real worth.

_____________

By Nicholas Atkinson, 10th March 2025, Waterstones “Gem of a book”

Carina Hamilton has written a gem of a book about Olga de Lebedeff. Weaving together different narrative strands, the book creates an intricate tapestry of the fascinating life of a 19th century feminist and East-West bridge builder, who did much to increase understanding between the Muslim and Christian communities of her day, while also improving ties and breaking down barriers between the Ottoman and Russian empires. By kismet I finished reading this book on International Women's Day (2025) - no doubt the author would have been delighted to know that such an event would exist in the future! Madame de Lebedeff was at the vanguard of the women's rights movement, a Russian aristocrat turned thought leader (a hundred years ahead of her time) whose scholarship created a following from Western Europe to the Urals, and from Scandinavia to Arabia. Meticulously-researched, the book will inspire anyone with an interest in learning more about the title's trailblazing protagonist, her efforts to improve the lives of women, and her work to foster understanding between different cultures and faiths.

‍