1. The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great pdf
kindle edition
To download now please click the link below.
http://tinyurl.com/bq5mvnp
From award-winning author Eva Stachniak comes this passionate
novel that 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 loftier, more dangerous
ambitions. 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.
“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.”—Minneapolis Star-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)

2. Reviews
I'll start by saying I really did think I would enjoy this novel when I picked it out. It is exactly the
type of novel I normally go for--historical fiction based upon a key figure in history. This novel is
also told through the voice of a third party, which I also usually enjoy, as it allows the reader to
see the broader spectrum of events from that period of time. I have never read an historical
fiction novel based upon Catherine the Great before and so I was eager to begin reading this
novel.
It started out with a lot of promise, introducing Varvara as our voice of the novel, giving a quick
sweep of her background, and then placing her perfectly within the Russian court, under the wing
of the 'spy-master' Chancellor Bestuzhev. I knew from the synopsis that Varvara was to become
the confidante of Catherine, and so the anticipation of how this relationship was to be shaped by
the author grew and grew as I read. And then it fizzled out. Although Varvara had been secretly
loyal to Catherine all along, the point in their relationship when Catherine finally asked Varvara to
be 'on her side' did not occur until halfway through the novel, and even then I felt that Varvara did
not become Catherine's true confidante until about two thirds of the way through when she alone
was privy to Catherine's relationship with a certain lover. By this point I was so tired of the
monotony of the story--Varvara reporting gossip to the Empress Elizabeth, then reporting gossip
to Catherine, then reporting gossip to the Chancellor. And the gossip wasn't even that
interesting. Lots of names of people and places, but no historical detail that could serve to widen
my knowledge or perspective of this time in history.
The last third of the novel did improve somewhat and became a little 'jucier', but I have to be
honest and I felt that it was too little, too late. I tend to enjoy a novel where the reader is able to
become emotionally attached to the protagonist, which in this case would be Varvara, and yet I
found her to be such a two-dimensional and vague figure that I never managed to feel any such
attachment. Even Catherine didn't jump off the page as a vibrant and colorful character.
All in all I guess this novel was just not to my taste.
To download now please click the link below.
http://tinyurl.com/bq5mvnp