{"id":1102,"date":"2012-01-10T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.com\/catalog\/display.pperl?isbn=9780553808124"},"modified":"2012-01-10T05:30:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T05:30:00","slug":"the-winter-palace-by-eva-stachniak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/2012\/01\/10\/the-winter-palace-by-eva-stachniak\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.com\/catalog\/display.pperl?isbn=9780553808124\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.com\/catalog\/catalog_cover.pperl?9780553808124\" border=\"1\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.com\/catalog\/display.pperl?isbn=9780553808124\">The Winter Palace<\/a> A Novel of Catherine the Great<br \/><b>Written by<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.randomhouse.com\/author\/results.pperl?authorid=122728\">Eva Stachniak<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><b>Hardcover<\/b>, 464 pages | Bantam | Fiction &#8211; Historical; Fiction &#8211; Biographical; Fiction &#8211; Literary | <b>$26.00<\/b> | January 10, 2012 | 978-0-553-80812-4 (0-553-80812-5)<\/p>\n<p>From award-winning author Eva Stachniak comes this passionate novel that illuminates, as only fiction can, the early life of one of history&rsquo;s boldest women. <i>The Winter Palace<\/i> tells the epic story of Catherine the Great&rsquo;s improbable rise to power&mdash;as seen through the ever-watchful eyes of an all-but-invisible servant close to the throne.<\/p>\n<p>Her name is Barbara&mdash;in Russian, Varvara. Nimble-witted and attentive, she&rsquo;s allowed into the employ of the Empress Elizabeth, amid the glitter and cruelty of the world&rsquo;s most eminent court. Under the tutelage of Count Bestuzhev, Chancellor and spymaster, Varvara will be educated in skills from lock picking to lovemaking, learning above all else to listen&mdash;and to wait for opportunity. That opportunity arrives in a slender young princess from Zerbst named Sophie, a playful teenager destined to become the indomitable Catherine the Great. Sophie&rsquo;s destiny at court is to marry the Empress&rsquo;s nephew, but she has other, loftier, more dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be more guileful than she first appears.<\/p>\n<p>What Sophie needs is an insider at court, a loyal pair of eyes and ears who knows the traps, the conspiracies, and the treacheries that surround her. Varvara will become Sophie&rsquo;s confidante&mdash;and together the two young women will rise to the pinnacle of absolute power. <\/p>\n<p>With dazzling details and intense drama, Eva Stachniak depicts Varvara&rsquo;s secret alliance with Catherine as the princess grows into a legend&mdash;through an enforced marriage, illicit seductions, and, at last, the shocking coup to assume the throne of all of Russia. <\/p>\n<p>Impeccably researched and magnificently written, <i>The Winter Palace<\/i> is an irresistible peek through the keyhole of one of history&rsquo;s grandest tales.<\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"all\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Winter Palace A Novel of Catherine the GreatWritten by Eva StachniakHardcover, 464 pages | Bantam | Fiction &#8211; Historical; Fiction &#8211; Biographical; Fiction &#8211; Literary | $26.00 | January 10, 2012 | 978-0-553-80812-4 (0-553-80812-5)From award-winning a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}