Rated of 5
by Peggy K. (Long Beach, CA) Royal Spydom
Told from the view of a young woman ordered to be the "tongue" for the Empress, this story gives us a peek into the world of the Russian royalty and in particular Catherine the Great when she was just Sophie. There is so much information here and so much intrigue. It is a fiction work but it grabs your attention from the first page. Catherine is one of the great figures in Russian history and simply fascinating to watch. A book club would find so much here to talk about and pose questions. I think many readers will find Catherine's early life in Russia very different from how they have viewed her and new readers will just soak it all up. Fiction or not this is a great way to be introduced to Catherine. Russian royalty had a very different take on being royal. You have all this and then there is Varvara, and her life serving so many masters. This is a grand romance book in many ways but also a thriller in some. Younger people might not care for it so much but women in general I think will truly enjoy this adventure. I have read books about Peter the Great and this book, even as fiction, takes a lot of factual information and uses it as well as many non fiction books. Even if you have little interest in Russian history you can still enjoy this book just for the characters.
Rated of 5
by Debra L. (Deerfield, IL) The Winter Palace the story of Catherine the Great
The Winter Palace is an average historical fiction account of Catherine the Great. I read a lot of historical fiction novels about Queens and Kings. I love them! This one was too long with very little substance. There was no "meat" to it. It was uninteresting. It was weighed down with details of setting and place. There was very little action. I would not recommend this one- boring and long. There are far better stories out there. I would like to read another account of Catherine the Great, maybe she was the bore!
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U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
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of 5
by Peggy K. (Long Beach, CA) 
of 5
by Debra L. (Deerfield, IL) 
