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The Pilgrim Princess: A Life of Princess Volkonsky

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Pilgrim Princess: A Life of Princess Volkonsky
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Maria Fairweather
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:352
Dimensions(mm): Height 197,Width 129
Category/GenreBiographies: Historical, Political and Military
Biographies: Royalty
ISBN/Barcode 9781841192413
ClassificationsDewey:947.07092
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint Robinson Publishing
Publication Date 5 October 2000
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This biography brings to life, through its subject's vibrant personality, a romantic period of enduring fascination. Princess Zinaida Volkonsky was a member of one of Russia's oldest families, became a maid of honour to the Dowager Empress and at court was soon noticed by Tsar Alexander I whose mistress she became and with whom she maintained a deep and lifelong friendship. Married to one of the Tsar's aides-de-camp, she travelled across Europe during the German and French campaigns, when she met Goethe. In the 1820s as the hostess of one of the most influential literary and musical salons in Moscow, where Alexander Pushkin was a leading guest, Zinaida became the glamorous hostess who later inspired Tolstoy. Zinaida inherited a strong tendency to depression. A lifelong search for spiritual answers eventually brought her to the Roman Catholic church and to a new life in Rome. Here, she at first created another salon, entertaining among many Stendhal, Rossini, Donizetti, Glinka and Sir Walter Scott. It was in her garden that Nikolai Gogol, worked on part of his great novel, Dead Souls.

Author Biography

Maria Fairweather is author of The Pilgrim Princess: A Life of Princess Volkonsky (1999): 'Vibrant and passionately human', TLS. Maria Fairweather also wrote The Pilgrim Princess: A Life of Princess Volkonsky. Maria Fairweather is married to the recently retired British ambassador to Italy. This is her first book.

Reviews

Vibrant and passionately human * Times Literary Supplement *