Virginia Rounding is a translator and writer who lives in London. Author of the critically acclaimed Grandes Horizontales, she studied Russian at the University of London and visits St. Petersburg regularly.
From the acclaimed author of Grandes Horizontales comes a book that the Washington Post calls “a vivid portrait of a sensual and intellectual woman.”
Dutiful daughter, passionate lover, doting grandmother, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers---Empress Catherine II was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during these years she realized Peter the Great’s ambition to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St. Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London.
Yet Catherine was not Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions, and plagues, by the force of her personality and an unshakable belief in her own destiny. Using Catherine’s own correspondence, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors, and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this powerful, fascinating, and surprisingly sympathetic eighteenth-century figure.
“An engrossing bio . . . Is it possible Sofia Coppola picked the wrong historical heroine?” ---Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A)
“The book is so readable because it brings Catherine alive, and not least in her relations with the men she drew to her side.” ---Foreign Affairs
“An attractive account of the reign of a most remarkable woman . . . Strongly recommended.” ---Library Journal
“A great thumping triumph of a book.” ---London Telegraph (UK)
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