Tsarina
'Makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme' – Daisy Goodwin
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4.1 • 15 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHOR'S CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN
'It makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme' - Daisy Goodwin
Lover, mother, murderer, Tsarina
1699: Illegitimate, destitute and strikingly beautiful, Marta is sold into labour at the age of fifteen - where in desperation she commits a crime that will force her to go on the run. Cheating death at every turn, she is swept into the current of the Great Northern War. Working as a washer woman at a battle camp, she catches the eye of none other than Peter the Great. Passionate and iron-willed, Peter has a vision for transforming the traditionalist Tsardom of Russia into a modern, Western empire.
With nothing but wits, courage and formidable ambition, Marta will rise from nothing to become Catherine I of Russia. But it comes at a steep price and is tied to the destiny of Russia itself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alpsten's overlong but ultimately rewarding debut chronicles the life of the first woman to rule Imperial Russia. In 1725, Peter the Great dies without a male heir old enough to rule, and his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, schemes for a place in the succession. Alpsten flashes back to Catherine's past, beginning with her birth as a peasant in 1684 and the poverty and abuse she suffers until her beauty catches the eye of Alexander Menshikov, the czar's closest friend, when Russia's wars with Sweden brings its army to her home near the Baltic Sea. Peter is drawn to her sexuality and fearlessness and takes her as a mistress. None of her 12 pregnancies with him result in a male heir, but her shrewdness helps cement her relationship with the czar, who marries her in 1712 and crowns her czarina in 1724. Catherine bonds with Menshikov and others as a way to cope with Peter's philandering and cruelty, even as his vision transforms a once-hidebound nation with a series of modernizing reforms. Though the prose can be clumsy and the time spent on Catherine's early years feels superfluous, Alpsten shines once she puts Catherine in Peter's orbit. Lovers of Russian history, strong women protagonists, and sweeping historicals will savor this vivid portrait.
