Winter Palace

The story of Catherine the Great's ruthless rise to power, seen through the eyes of a young girl groomed as the Empress's spy in eighteenth-century Russia. When Vavara, a young orphaned Polish girl, is brought to serve at the glittering, dangerous court of Empress Elizabeth in St Petersburg, she is schooled in skills ranging from lock-picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent — and listen. Then Sophie, a vulnerable young Prussian princess, arrives as a prospective bride for the Empress's heir. Set to spy on her, Vavara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit liasons and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court. But Sophie's destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great. Are her ambitions more lofty and far-reaching than anyone suspected, and will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power?