Press

What the critics say

Riveting... Stachniak has uncovered a treasure trove of rich material... The real core of Stachniak's tale is that [Catherine and Elizabeth] are women... Casts light over recent Russian history too, which is exactly what historical fiction should do
- Globe and Mail

A wonderful novel, riven with intrigue and startling details, the sort to savour on a long winter evening
- Daily Telegraph

The kind of big busty read that sends you back to the history books
- The Sunday Times

Extraordinarily absorbing... will have you on the edge of your seat
- Daily Mail

A wonderful tale of the Imperial Russia court in all its glittering glory. Eva Stachniak vividly brings to life the early years of the meek young bride who would become the terrifying, fascinating Catherine the Great
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Fantastic, bold, colourful, assured and wonderful writing - and what a story! An outstanding book, magical, beautiful with writing as crisp and fine and breathtaking as a Russian winter
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Luxuriant... baroque and intimate, worldly and domestic, wildly strange and soulfully familiar
- Washington Post

A whirlwind saga of intrigue, shifting allegiances and illicit liaisons, this engrossing story really captures the imagination
- Choice Magazine

A wonderfully majestic and evocative tale of 18th century Russia at a key moment in history
- Candis Magazine

An intensely written, intensely felt saga of the early years that shaped the 18th century's famous czarina, Catherine the Great. Her survival in the treachery of the Russian court was an amazing feat, and Eva Stachniak captures the fluidity and steeliness that propelled Catherine from a lowly German duchess to one of the towering figures of the century
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A riveting reconstruction of a crucial era in Russian history… shows iconic figures of the period as real people
- BBC History Magazine

Covering the twenty years that turned Catherine the Great from a young bride on approval to the legendary Empress of Russia, Eva Stachniak's novel gives a magical insight into the hopes and fears that haunted the corridors of the St Petersburg palace. It brings alive the very tastes and textures of the mid-eighteenth century
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An intimate portrait of 18th century girl-power
- Independent