The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great

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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal The Washington Post From award winning author Eva Stachniak comes this passionate novel that illuminates, as only fiction can, the early life of one of history s boldest women The Winter Palace tells the epic story of Catherine the Great s improbable rise to power as seen through the ever watchful eyes of an all but invisible servant close to the throne.Her name is Barbara in Russian, Varvara Nimble witted and attentive, she s allowed into the employ of the Empress Elizabeth, amid the glitter and cruelty of the world s 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 listen and 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 Sophie s destiny at court is to marry the Empress s nephew, but she has other, loftier, dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be 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 Sophie s confidante and together the two young women will rise to the pinnacle of absolute power With dazzling details and intense drama, Eva Stachniak depicts Varvara s secret alliance with Catherine as the princess grows into a legend through 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 history s grandest tales.Praise for The Winter Palace A majestic and splendidly written tale of pride, passion, intrigue, and deceit that is brought alive from the first page to the last Rosalind Laker At the same time baroque and intimate, worldly and domestic, wildly strange and soulfully familiar, The Winter Palace offers a flickering glimpse of history through the gauze of deft entertainment The Washington Post A thrilling point of view Readers are treated to a firsthand account of the young princess s slow ascent to the throne, a path deliciously strewn with discarded lovers and sanguine court intrigues MinneapolisStar Tribune A brilliant, bold historical novel This superb biographical epic proves the Tudors don t have a monopoly on marital scandal, royal intrigue, or feminine triumph Booklist starred review New Download [ The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great ] by [ Eva Stachniak ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Find the enhanced version of this and other reviews at out of the gate I have to give Stachniak a lot of points In a market flooded with Tudor lit, The Winter Palace stands apart A lover of history and historic fiction, I was overjoyed to see an author branching out Of course, I wont be happy until so...In the crowded historical fiction marketplace, THE WINTER PALACE stands out for being a book set in mid eighteenth century Russia, an unusual setting But what makes this novel unique is its perspective Told from the viewpoint of Varvara, a young Polish woman who rises to influence in the Russian Court of Tsarina Elizabeth as a spy, we are swept into a tumultuous era when the fortunes of an entire empire hovered on the often incomprehensible whims of the aging tsarina, and where an enterprising In the crowded historical fiction marketplace, THE WINTER PALACE stands out for being a book set in mid eighteenth century Russia, an unusual setting But what makes this novel unique is its perspective Told from the viewpoint of Varvara, a young Polish woman who rises to influence in the Russian Court of Tsarina Elizabeth as a spy, we are swept into a tumultuous era when the fortunes of an entire empire hovered on the often incomprehensible whims of the aging tsarina, and where an enterprising servant could rise high, if she was willing to sacrifice enough to achieve her goals Varvara isthan up to the task a book binder s daughter with little to recommend her save her ingenuity, she enters service as a secret tongue , ferreting out petty secrets to amuse her employers, until the young German princess Sophie arrives to wed the Tsarina s nephew In lovely, maligned Sophie, Varvara finds the perfect ploy to both succeed in her quest for independence and play a...This book sets the stage for the next book, a clever idea In The Winter Palace we read about what went on before the relatively obscure German princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt Zerbst Dornburg transformed herself into the empress Catherine the Great.I found it quite an intense story about what, we would call today, an abusive and toxic environment and women who found themselves living inside it Sophie and everybody else is placed under the tyranny of empress Elizabeth, who is a This book sets the stage for the next book, a clever idea In The Winter Palace we read about what went on before the relatively obscure German princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt Zerbst Dornburg transformed herself into the empress Catherine the Great.I found it quite an intense story about what, we would call today, an abusive and toxic environment and women who found themselves living inside it Sophie and everybody else is placed under the tyranny of empress Elizabeth, who is a cruel self centered ruler Everybody is forced to live a double life, one in public and quite another one clandestinely This type of living under constant terror is shared by the main protagonist of the story, fictional Barbara in Polish or Varvara in Russian , who finds herself an orphan, a...I m giving this novel 3.7 stars.This was an entertaining novel that read like a melodrama The plot is believable and fastidiously executed The writing is melodious and sentimental The novel is immensely rich in descriptive details, especially about court etiquette, palatial decor, clothes and jewelry Having recently read Robert Massie s factual non fiction title Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman, I can avow that this novel is based on meticulous research.The novel is written from the I m giving this novel 3.7 stars.This was an entertaining novel that read like a melodrama The plot is believable and fastidiously executed The writing is melodious and sentimental The novel is immensely rich in descriptive details, especially about court etiquette, palatial decor, clothes and jewelry Having recently read Robert Massie s factual non fiction title Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman, I can avow ...This book was selected for my Historical Fiction group s January group read, and since I m trying somewhat successfully so far, but the year is still young to readgroup read selections, I read this one And Well, I liked it, but I can t say that I loved it It really wasn t what I was expecting at all, though that s not really a bad thing Just different I had expected this novel of Catherine the Great to be about Catherine the Great Instead, it was about the girl, Sophie, who would This book was selected for my Historical Fiction group s January group read, and since I m trying somewhat successfully so far, but the year is still young to readgroup read selections, I read this one And Well, I liked it, but I can t say that I loved it It really wasn t what I was expecting at all, though that s not really a bad thing Just different I had expected this novel of Catherine the Great to be about Catherine the Great Instead, it was about the girl, Sophie, who would become her And that s fine, because I love learning about the origins of things, like how people come to power But so much of the book was not about Catherine the Great that it just felt a ...Novels on Catherine the Great are few and far between, and I believe most of those are out of print and rather hard to find, so I was thrilled to bits to see a new one coming out While this is billed as A Novel of Catherine the Great , the narrator is Barbara Varvara in Russian , a daughter of a Polish bookbinder who works as a spy in the household of the Empress Elizabeth, beginning at the time a young Princess Sophie is brought to court to marry Elizabeth s nephew and heir Barbara and the Novels on Catherine the Great are few and far between, and I believe most of those are out of print and rather hard to find, so I was thrilled to bits to see a new one coming out While this is billed as A Novel of Catherine the Great , the narrator is Barbara Varvara in Russian , a daughter of a Polish bookbinder who works as a spy in the household of the Empress Elizabeth, beginning at the time a young Princess Sophie is brought to court to marry Elizabeth s nephew and heir Barbara and the newly renamed Catherine become friends making Barbara a double agent of sorts , an...I was so looking forward to this book, only to be disappointed AGAIN The unfortunate part is that the premise of the book, including the time period and all of the characters could have had such an interesting story to tell, but Stachniak falls short To start off with, I believe the choice of a first person narrator told from the point of a view of a spy or tongue under the guise as a chamber maid ruined the writer s ability to truly potray Catherine the Great I mean, who is she I was so looking forward to this book, only to be disappointed AGAIN The unfortunate part is that the premise of the book, including the time period and all of the characters could have had such an interesting story to tell, but Stachniak falls short To start off with, I believe the choice of a first person narrator told from the point of a view of a spy or tongue under the guise as a chamber maid ruined the writer s ability to truly potray Catherine the Great I mean, who is she really This daunting figure in history, yet Stachniak leaves me wonderingIs Catherine heartless or is she full of love Is she clever and full of guile...The Winter Palace is historical fiction, based on historical sources of the life of Catherine the Great of Russia We see the center of the empire through the eyes of one member of the court, an insignificant child initially brought to Russia by her Polish parents This child, Barbara, soon to be renamed Varvara, enters into the world of court intrigue after her parents death and we follow the intrigues of court life under Elizabeth, Grand Duke Peter, the search for a wife for Peter, and the The Winter Palace is historical fiction, based on historical sources of the life of Catherine the Great of Russia We see the center of the empire through the eyes of one member of the court, an insignificant child initially brought to Russia by her Polish parents This child, Barbara, soon to be renamed Varvara, enters into the world of court intrigue after her parents death and we follow the intrigues of court life under Elizabeth, Grand Duke Peter, the search for a wife for Peter, and the transformation of Sophy of Prussia into Catherine As stated by the author, A spy is a marvelous narrator.In the corridors of the Winter Palace, Varvara can see and hear what remains hidden to others, so she is well suited to become... 3.5 starsEva Stachniak is an excellent writer She immerses the reader fully into the story, allowing one to hear the susurration of silken petticoats, feel the chill bite of the howling Russian winter wind, smell the perfume and mildew which permeated the grand yet dilapidated Winter Palace She does so with complex sentences, unlike some historical fiction writers cough Philippa Gregory cough who can t seem to string together sentencesinvolved than the See Jane, See Spot, See Jane 3.5 starsEva Stachniak is an excellent writer She immerses the reader fully into the story, allowing one to hear the susurration of silken petticoats, feel the chill bite of the howling Russian winter wind, smell the perfume and mildew which permeated the grand yet dilapidated Winter Palace She does so with complex sentences, unlike some historical fiction writers cough Philippa Gregory cough who can t seem to string together sentencesinvolved than the See Jane, See Spot, See Jane and Spot variety, weaving toget...Audiobook version Now that the days are shorter, I was looking for a sweeping historical novel to listen to on the dark drive to and from work This seemed ideal an orphaned Polish girl working in the Russian court becomes one of Empress Elizabeth s tongues a palace spy but ultimately ends up helping the young German princess Sophie to become the notorious Catherine the Great.Except, my knowledge of Russian and European history of that era is veeeery vague, so I honestly have no idea Audiobook version Now that the days are shorter, I was looking for a sweeping historical novel to listen to on the dark drive to and from work This seemed ideal an orphaned Polish girl working in the Russian court becomes one of Empress Elizabeth s tongues a palace spy but ultimately ends up helping the young German princess Sophie to become the notorious Catherine the Great.Except, my knowledge of Russian and European history of that era is veeeery vague, so I honestly have no idea why Catherine was eventually dubbed the Great This book spans a period of about twenty years, and focuses on the events leading up to the coup when Catherine took the throne, which is where the story ends But despite my ignorance, I disagree w...

The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great
  • English
  • 10 August 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 444 pages
  • 0553808125
  • Eva Stachniak
  • The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great