Catherine the Great by Rounding Virginia
Many legends have grown up, about the sexual rapacity of Catherine the Great. While it is true that she shocked the Russian court, with the number and age of her lovers, there is no truth in the rumour of her death by stallion. Unhappily married to the Grand Duke Peter, a man who preferred to play with his toy soldiers in the bedroom, they failed to produce an heir, and Catherine turned her attentions to a certain Sergey Saltykov, who fathered the future Tsar Paul I. Six months into the reign of Peter III, Catherine, supported by the Imperial Guard, staged a successful coup against her husband and became Empress. It was her ambition, to transform a vast but semi-barbaric country, with the cultural and political reforms of Enlightenment Europe. In this timely and fascinating biography, Virginia Rounding reveals an extraordinary woman in all her complexity.
" 'What these women were about was not sex, but ostentation.. This is a story which Rounding tells very well' Observer. 'This is a rich, timely, engrossing book that puts its forerunners to shame' Guardian. 'Virginia Rounding has written a highly readable and utterly fascinating book' Sunday Tribune"
Virginia Rounding is the author of Les Grandes Horizontales (2003), is fluent in French and Russian (vital for the source material of her new book). She lives in London (EC1).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780091799922 |
| ISBN 10 | 0091799929 |
| Title | Catherine the Great |
| Author | Rounding Virginia |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cornerstone |
| Year published | 2006-03-30 |
| Number of pages | 592 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |