Waiting. Like it or not, it's a skill all spies have to master eventually

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

"The spies you learn about are either those who get exposed or those who reveal themselves. The first have been foolish enough to leave a trail of words behind; the second have reasons of their own. Perhaps they wish to confess there is nothing else they have but the arid memories of their own importance. Or perhaps they wish to warn."

Eva Stachniak is a Polish writer who has been living in Canada since 1981. Her debut novel Necessary Lies published in 2000 won the Canada First Novel Award. Most of her novels are based on historical fiction.

The Winter Palace is a novel set in the mid 18th century Russia, mostly Saint Petesburgh. What makes this novel unique is its different perspective. The story is told by Varvara, a young Polish woman who rises to influence in the Russian Court of Thsarina Elizabeth as a spy. Varvara is the daughter of a bookbinder, who moves to Russia and restores a volume of prayers for Elizabeth, the future Empress of Russia. When Varvara’s parents die, she becomes a “ward of the Crown.” At first, she is set in the Imperial Wardrobe where she is cold, abused , hungry and lonely. Wandering the palace at night, she met Count Bestzhev, the Chancellor of Russia and he teaches her to become a spy. Thus, Varvara becomes very much involved in Palace and Court life: she meets the Empress Elizabeth and report sto both her and the Chancellor. Elizabeth has vowed to rule alone, planning to make her sister’s orphaned son Peter, the Crown Prince. She arranges his marriage with Princess Sophie, who later becomes Catherine. Catherine arrives at Court at the age of 14, a German Princess who becomes the Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna. There are lots of affairs, marriages, crimes, sadness and plotting in the Court life where Catherine struggles to find her place. I did not know much about Catherine’s life before she was crowned Empress, so I really enjoyed learning about her trials and small triumphs at Court.

All along the way, Varvara becomes conflicted oveer her dulie as she finds herself truly liking the naive Grand Duchess and instead of helping the Empress, she begins to help Catherine become a power player in the Russian Court. While the story told is powerful and entracing, I found that it was more about Varvara and her life than about Catherine. In the novel, Catherine becomes a side note. We see Catherine change from a frightened, lovely young woman to a confident manipulator of her surroundings. However, all thoughts and emotions are Varvara’s. For seven years, after she displeases the Empress and is forcefully married off to one of the Court soldiers (Egor), Varvara is banished from the Court and the novel focuses on her time spent with her husband and daughter. At such, we hear about the actions of Catherine, who is supposedly meant to be the main thrust of the novel, from tertiary sources-letters, reports, rumors-passed on to Varvara. If this is a book about Catherine, why is Varvara the one we sympathize with, suffer with, ride along with? Shouldn’t it be Catherine? Maybe the book should have been entitled A Novel set in the Court of Catherine the Great.