Novel set in USA, VIETNAM and JAPAN
The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great

Location(s): Russia
Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
Era(s): 18th century
From award-winning author Eva Stachniak comes this passionate novel that illuminates, as only fiction can, the early life of one of historys boldest women. The Winter Palace tells the epic story of Catherine the Greats improbable rise to power as seen through the ever-watchful eyes of an all-but-invisible servant close to the throne.
Her name is Barbarain Russian, Varvara. Nimble-witted and attentive, shes allowed into the employ of the Empress Elizabeth, amid the glitter and cruelty of the worlds most eminent court. Under the tutelage of Count Bestuzhev, Chancellor and spymaster, Varvara will be educated in skills from lock picking to lovemaking, learning above all else to listenand to wait for opportunity. That opportunity arrives in a slender young princess from Zerbst named Sophie, a playful teenager destined to become the indomitable Catherine the Great. Sophies destiny at court is to marry the Empresss nephew, but she has other, loftier, more dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be more guileful than she first appears.
What Sophie needs is an insider at court, a loyal pair of eyes and ears who knows the traps, the conspiracies, and the treacheries that surround her. Varvara will become Sophies confidanteand together the two young women will rise to the pinnacle of absolute power.
With dazzling details and intense drama, Eva Stachniak depicts Varvaras secret alliance with Catherine as the princess grows into a legendthrough an enforced marriage, illicit seductions, and, at last, the shocking coup to assume the throne of all of Russia.
Impeccably researched and magnificently written, The Winter Palace is an irresistible peek through the keyhole of one of historys grandest tales.
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