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Book The last lover of the Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author :
  • Publisher : Іван Корсак (Вест Девелопмент Груп)
  • Release :
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 99 pages

Download or read book The last lover of the Empress written by and published by Іван Корсак (Вест Девелопмент Груп). This book was released on with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main character of a new book written by Ivan Korsak, a famous Ukrainian litterateur from Volyn, Arceniy Matsievich (1697-1772 is the representative of the second wave of Ukrainian enlighteners generation in Russia. The son of priest from Volynian nobility. The member of saint Synod. Rostov metropolitan for 20 years (it’s the “lightest period in the history of Rosrov”). The Great preacher: he wrote 217 gospels. He passionaly defended the rights of the Church from government interference. The lasting fight ended in defrocking and life imprisonment. The metropolitan had been judged “for perverse and repellent interpretation of Holy Writ and for ruffling of the lieges” for seven days. After the first court Catherine II sent him as a simple monk to the monastery situated near Arkhangelsk. Then he was brought to justice as a political criminal (“who should be excruciated and killed”) and the czarina ordered to immure him in the casemates of Revel fortress.

Book The Empress Lover

    Book Details:
  • Author : Linda Jaivin
  • Publisher : HarperCollins Australia
  • Release : 2014-04-01
  • ISBN : 0730497755
  • Pages : 240 pages

Download or read book The Empress Lover written by Linda Jaivin and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A witty, playful, intriguing and ultimately very moving novel of identity and loss. 'Stories are the only thing that defy death. Stories are truth. I hereby give you mine...' Peking, 1944: Sir Edmund Backhouse is a man of many parts. A polyglot scholar. An effete homosexual. A genius of perversity, a forger, arms salesman, occasional spy and fantasist. Also, if he is to be believed, the onetime lover of the redoubtable Empress Dowager of China, a woman many decades his senior. In his declining years, tended by his friend, Dr Hoeppli, he writes his memoir - 'a wild tale', as he calls it, 'far-fetched and fantastical'- of his affair with the Dowager Empress. Beijing, 2014: Linnie is an Australian woman of uncertain provenance struggling to make a living in Beijing. A Sinophile, a translator of film subtitles, the author of an unpublished novel about Backhouse called the Empress Lover. One day, she receives an intriguingly old-fashioned and formal invitation from a Professor H, an invitation that promises to reveal long hidden secrets of her family... And so two worlds collide. An enchantingly slippery, sinuous, playful - and ultimately very moving - novel of love, loss, identity and history from one of Australia's finest novelists. 'Jaivin's writing shines and burns.' Sunday Age 'the Empress Lover is a fascinating work, infused as it is with China's history, Jaivin's experience of it, and her own capacious imagination. Surely this is the novel to gain her a reputation as one of Australia's best and most versatile writers.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A supple and intricate piece of storytelling ... a touching,inventive and gratifyingly unpredictable novel.' the Australian

Book The Last Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author : Anchee Min
  • Publisher : A&C Black
  • Release : 2011-12-01
  • ISBN : 1408828995
  • Pages : 402 pages

Download or read book The Last Empress written by Anchee Min and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Vivid and entertaining ... this is history as it plays upon the emotions. Empires crumble, hearts are broken' THE TIMES From the bestselling author of Red Azalea comes the much-anticipated sequel to Empress Orchid At the end of the nineteenth century China is rocked by foreign attacks and local rebellions. The only constant is the power wielded by one woman, Tzu Hsi, also known as Empress Orchid, who must face the perilous condition of her empire and devastating personal losses. In this sequel to the bestselling Empress Orchid, Anchee Min brings to life one of the most important figures in Chinese history, a very human leader who sacrifices all she has to protect both those she loves and her doomed empire.

Book The Last Empress

Download or read book The Last Empress written by Hannah Pakula and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-11-03 with total page 850 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the beautiful, powerful, and sexy Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the center of one of the great dramas of the twentieth century, this is the story of the founding of modern China, starting with a revolution that swept away more than 2,000 years of monarchy, followed by World War II, and ending in the eventual loss to the Communists and exile in Taiwan. An epic historical tapestry, this wonderfully wrought narrative brings to life what Americans should know about China -- the superpower we are inextricably linked with -- the way its people think and their code of behavior, both vastly different from our own. The story revolves around this fascinating woman and her family: her father, a peasant who raised himself into Shanghai society and sent his daughters to college in America in a day when Chinese women were kept purposefully uneducated; her mother, an unlikely Methodist from the Mandarin class; her husband, a military leader and dogmatic warlord; her sisters, one married to Sun Yat-sen, the George Washington of China, the other to a seventy-fifth lineal descendant of Confucius; and her older brother, a financial genius. This was the Soong family, which, along with their partners in marriage, was largely responsible for dragging China into the twentieth century. Brilliantly narrated, this fierce and bloody drama also includes U.S. Army General Joseph Stilwell; Claire Chennault, head of the Flying Tigers; Communist leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai; murderous warlords; journalists Henry Luce, Theodore White, and Edgar Snow; and the unfortunate State Department officials who would be purged for predicting (correctly) the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. As the representative of an Eastern ally in the West, Madame Chiang was befriended -- before being rejected -- by the Roosevelts, stayed in the White House for long periods during World War II, and charmed the U.S. Congress into giving China billions of dollars. Although she was dubbed the Dragon Lady in some quarters, she was an icon to her people and is certainly one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century.

Book The Last Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author : StoryBuddiesPlay
  • Publisher : StoryBuddiesPlay
  • Release : 2024-08-19
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 126 pages

Download or read book The Last Empress written by StoryBuddiesPlay and published by StoryBuddiesPlay. This book was released on 2024-08-19 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the heart of the Forbidden City, where opulence conceals treachery, Mei Lin, a loyal personal maid to the Empress Dowager, finds herself entangled in a perilous game of love and politics. Her world turns upside down when she falls for William Harrington, a foreign envoy sent to negotiate crucial treaties. As Mei Lin navigates the treacherous waters of palace intrigue and personal loyalties, she must protect William from becoming a pawn in the dangerous power struggle brewing within the court. With every move fraught with danger, Mei Lin must balance her growing love for William against the backdrop of a court on the brink of rebellion, where every whisper could be a threat and every alliance a potential betrayal. "The Last Empress" is a historical romance that intertwines passion and peril, set against the grandeur and shadowy secrets of the imperial palace. historical romance novels, Forbidden City romance, palace intrigue fiction, Empress Dowager story, maid and diplomat romance, historical drama, imperial court politics, forbidden love story, diplomatic romance, court conspiracy novels

Book Empress Orchid

    Book Details:
  • Author : Anchee Min
  • Publisher : HMH
  • Release : 2005-04-11
  • ISBN : 0547347200
  • Pages : 369 pages

Download or read book Empress Orchid written by Anchee Min and published by HMH. This book was released on 2005-04-11 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating novel, similar to Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha . . . A revisionist portrait of a beautiful and strong-willed woman” (Houston Chronicle). A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year From Anchee Min, a master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes China’s last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of the country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When China is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this “absorbing companion piece to her novel Becoming Madame Mao,” readers and reading groups will once again be transported by Min’s lavish evocation of the Forbidden City in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world (The New York Times). “Superb . . . [An] unforgettable heroine.” —People “A sexually charged, eye-opening portrayal of the Chinese empire . . . with heart-wrenching scenes of desperate failure and a sensuality that rises off its heated pages.” —Elle

Book The Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author : S. J. Kincaid
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2017-10-31
  • ISBN : 1534409947
  • Pages : 358 pages

Download or read book The Empress written by S. J. Kincaid and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-10-31 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling sequel to S.J. Kincaid’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Diabolic, which TeenVogue.com called “the perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.” It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite. But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress. Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Book The Last Love of an Emperor  Reminiscences of the Comtesse Louise de Mercy Argenteau  N  e Princesse de Caraman Chimay

Download or read book The Last Love of an Emperor Reminiscences of the Comtesse Louise de Mercy Argenteau N e Princesse de Caraman Chimay written by Louise comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Will of the Empress

Download or read book The Will of the Empress written by Tamora Pierce and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sandry, Daja, Briar, and Tris, are older now and back together again, in an exciting and much-awaited, stand-alone novel by everyone's favorite mage, Tamora Pierce.For years the Empress of Namorn has pressed her young cousin, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, to visit her vast lands within the Empire's borders. Sandry has avoided the invitation for as long as it was possible. Now Sandry has agreed to pay that overdue visit. Sandry's uncle promises guards to accompany her. But they're hardly a group of warriors! They're her old friends from Winding Circle: Daja, Tris, and Briar. Sandry hardly knows them now. They've grown up and grown apart. Sandry isn't sure they'll ever find their old connection again - or if she even wants them to. When they arrive at the pala

Book The Accidental Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author : Allison Pataki
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2015-02-17
  • ISBN : 147679023X
  • Pages : 512 pages

Download or read book The Accidental Empress written by Allison Pataki and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Discover the “captivating, absorbing, and beautifully told” (Kathleen Grissom) love story of Sisi, the Austro-Hungarian empress and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph—perfect for fans of the Netflix series The Empress! The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry. Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead. Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love of her emperor, her people, and of the world. With Pataki’s rich period detail and cast of complex, bewitching characters, The Accidental Empress offers “another absolutely compelling story” (Mary Higgins Clark) with this glimpse into one of history’s most intriguing royal families, shedding new light on the glittering Hapsburg Empire and its most mesmerizing, most beloved “Fairy Queen.”

Book Empress of All Seasons

Download or read book Empress of All Seasons written by Emiko Jean and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Japanese folklore–inspired YA fantasy for fans of The Hunger Games, a lowly young woman with a monstrous secret competes to become empress. Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yōkai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku… Winter 2018-2019 Kids’ Indie Next List “Dark, daring, and utterly delicious.”—C.J. Redwine, New York Times–bestselling author of The Bloodspell “Will latch onto your imagination and sweep you along for a magical and dangerous ride.”—Joelle Charbonneau, New York Times–bestselling author of The Testing Trilogy “Jean's world building is incredible.”—Booklist “An engaging story that also questions the power structures of heaven and earth, male and female, human and yokai. A narrative that will engage fans of the genre with a much-needed non-Western setting.”—Kirkus Reviews

Book The Romanov Empress

    Book Details:
  • Author : C. W. Gortner
  • Publisher : Ballantine Books
  • Release : 2019-07-02
  • ISBN : 0425286185
  • Pages : 466 pages

Download or read book The Romanov Empress written by C. W. Gortner and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir comes a dramatic novel of the beloved Empress Maria, the Danish princess who became the mother of the last Russian tsar. “This epic tale is captivating and beautifully told.”—Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir, Alexander, and once he ascends the throne, becomes empress. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love. Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has led her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache. From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it. Praise for The Romanov Empress “Timely . . . [Gortner’s] ability to weave what reads as a simple tale from such complex historical and familial storylines is impressive. . . . Maria’s life as a royal reads like a historical soap opera.”—USA Today “Gortner, an experienced hand at recreating the unique aura of a particular time and place, will deftly sweep historical-fictions fans into this glamorous, turbulent, and ultimately tragic chapter in history.”—Booklist (starred review) “Mesmerizing . . . This insightful first-person account of the downfall of the Romanov rule . . . is the powerful story of a mother trying to save her family and an aristocrat fighting to maintain rule in a country of rebellion.”—Publishers Weekly “A twist on the tragic story you’ve heard many times before.”—Bustle

Book An Enduring Love

Download or read book An Enduring Love written by Farah Pahlavi and published by Miramax Books. This book was released on 2005-04-06 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving story of the former Empress of Iran -- now in paperback. At the age of twenty-one, Farah Diba married the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. A loving marriage, the raising of four children, and a devotion to social and cultural causes marked her early years as queen, although there were already signs of grave national diversions on the horizon. Twenty years later the dream had turned into a nightmare: demonstrations and riots shook the country, and Farah and the Shah decided to leave in order to avoid bloodshed. With the hardcover publication of An Enduring Love, a New York Times bestseller (extended list) in 2004, Farah Diba, wife of the last emperor of Iran, broke her silence and told the wrenching story of her love for a man and his country. Her compelling memoir offers an intimate view of a time of upheaval, but stands above all as a powerful human document from one whose life was caught up in an epic and tragic national struggle.

Book The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Download or read book The Empress of Salt and Fortune written by Nghi Vo and published by Tordotcom. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2020 Crawford Award! Winner of the 2021 Hugo Award! A Hugo Award-Winning Series! A 2021 Locus Award Finalist A 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist "Dangerous, subtle, unexpected and familiar, angry and ferocious and hopeful... The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a remarkable accomplishment of storytelling."—NPR A 2020 ALA Booklist Top Ten SF/F Debut | A Book Riot Must-Read Fantasy of 2020 | A Paste Most Anticipated Novel of 2020 | A Library Journal Debut of the Month | A Buzzfeed Must-Read Fantasy Novel of Spring 2020 | A Washington Post Best SFF of the Year So Far Pick Named Book Riot's Best Book Cover of 2020 Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | Library Journal | NYPL | Chicago Public Library | The Austen Chronicle | Autostraddle With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women. A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece. The Singing Hills Cycle The Empress of Salt and Fortune When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain Into the Riverlands The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entrypoint. Praise for The Empress of Salt and Fortune “An elegant gut-punch, a puzzle box that unwinds itself in its own way and in its own time. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Gorgeous. Cruel. Perfect. I didn't know I needed to read this until I did.”—Seanan McGuire "A tale of rebellion and fealty that feels both classic and fresh, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is elegantly told, strongly felt, and brimming with rich detail. An epic in miniature, beautifully realised."—Zen Cho "Nghi Vo's gracefully told debut . . . resides in the intimate margins of its (beautifully imagined) world's history, portraying how the marginalized may yet shape those narratives and harness the power of stories."—Indrapramit Das At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Book The Last Love of an Emperor

Download or read book The Last Love of an Emperor written by comtesse de Montrigand and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Diabolic

    Book Details:
  • Author : S. J. Kincaid
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2016-11-01
  • ISBN : 1481472690
  • Pages : 362 pages

Download or read book The Diabolic written by S. J. Kincaid and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.” —TeenVogue.com A New York Times bestseller! Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when a senator’s daughter is summoned to the galactic court as a hostage, but she’s really the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon in disguise. A Diabolic is ruthless. A Diabolic is powerful. A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you’ve been created for. Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager created to protect a galactic senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The two have grown up side by side, but are in no way sisters. Nemesis is expected to give her life for Sidonia, and she would do so gladly. She would also take as many lives as necessary to keep Sidonia safe. When the power-mad Emperor learns Sidonia’s father is participating in a rebellion, he summons Sidonia to the Galactic court. She is to serve as a hostage. Now, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia. She must become her. Nemesis travels to the court disguised as Sidonia—a killing machine masquerading in a world of corrupt politicians and two-faced senators’ children. It’s a nest of vipers with threats on every side, but Nemesis must keep her true abilities a secret or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns there is something more to her than just deadly force. She finds a humanity truer than what she encounters from most humans. Amidst all the danger, action, and intrigue, her humanity just might be the thing that saves her life—and the empire.

Book In the Shadow of the Empress

Download or read book In the Shadow of the Empress written by Nancy Goldstone and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vibrant, sprawling saga of Empress Maria Theresa—one of the most renowned women rulers in history—and three of her extraordinary daughters, including Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of France. Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of uncommon strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg Empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable daughters: lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamorous, tragic queen of France, and perhaps the most famous princess in history. Unfolding against an irresistible backdrop of brilliant courts from Vienna to Versailles, embracing the exotic lure of Naples and Sicily, this epic history of Maria Theresa and her daughters is a tour de force of desire, adventure, ambition, treachery, sorrow, and glory. Each of these women’s lives was packed with passion and heart-stopping suspense. Maria Theresa inherited her father’s thrones at the age of twenty-three and was immediately attacked on all sides by foreign powers confident that a woman would to be too weak to defend herself. Maria Christina, a gifted artist who alone among her sisters succeeded in marrying for love, would face the same dangers that destroyed the monarchy in France. Resourceful Maria Carolina would usher in the golden age of Naples only to face the deadly whirlwind of Napoleon. And, finally, Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen whose stylish excesses and captivating notoriety have masked the truth about her husband and herself for two hundred and fifty years. Vividly written and deeply researched, In the Shadow of the Empress is the riveting story of four exceptional women who changed the course of history.