

Her debut novel, Necessary Lies, won the /Books in Canada First Novel Award, and her second novel, Dancing with Kings, has been translated into seven languages. Are her ambitions more lofty and far-reaching than anyone suspected, and will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power?Įva Stachniak was born in Wroclaw, Poland, and now lives in Canada, where she has been a radio broadcaster and college English and humanities lecturer. But Sophie's destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great.

Set to spy on her, Vavara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit liaisons and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal. Then Sophie, a vulnerable young princess, arrives from Prussia as a prospective bride for the Empress's heir. Buy a cheap copy of The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine. When Vavara, a young Polish orphan, arrives at the glittering, dangerous court of the Empress Elizabeth in St Petersburg, she is schooled in skills ranging from lock picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent - and listen. Buy a discounted Paperback of The Winter Palace (A novel of the. Sophie's destiny at court is to marry the Empress's nephew, but she has other, loftier, more dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be more guileful than she first appears. The epic, sensuous story of Catherine the Great's ruthless rise to power, through the eyes of a young girl groomed as the Empress's spy in 18th Century Russia. Booktopia has The Winter Palace (A novel of the young Catherine the Great) by Eva Stachniak. That opportunity arrives in a slender young princess from Zerbst named Sophie, a playful teenager destined to become the indomitable Catherine the Great.
