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Eva Stachniak
Doubleday (Transworld)r
19 January 2012 / ISBN-13: 9780857520531
Historical Fiction / 1743-1764 / Russia
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Polish émigré Varvara is sent to the court of Empress
Elizabeth following the death of her father, a bookbinder whose
work had impressed the Empress. Initially her life is drudgery;
working as a seamstress when she does not possess the skills but
one night she is spotted by the Chancellor. He teaches her the art
of being a spy for the Empress and her luck changes. It is her new
task to be a companion to the young Princess Sophie, whose destiny
it is to become Catherine The Great.
This novel covers the period when Catherine first arrives at court,
marries Elizabeth's heir Peter and then becomes the person we know
from the history books. Told in the first person by Varvara, reading
this gives us a rare chance to see what life must have been like
in mid 18th century Russia: the court intrigues, disappearances,
plotting and scheming as well as the details of what people ate,
wore and did. Books set in Russia are generally about the last Czar,
so it makes a refreshing change to read about a different period
and this writer is certainly adept at leaving no stone upturned.
What follows is very much a blow-by-blow account of Catherine's
daily life with all her setbacks, heartache and times of being in
danger. Varvara makes for a good narrator and having it told in
this way brings an immediacy that is needed for such an unfamiliar
and exotic-appearing time and place. At times I wished for a swifter
pace but was rewarded instead with rich descriptions and a particularly
entertaining history lesson. An author to watch out for. |
