Friday Reads: The Imperial Wife

The Imperial Wife by Irina Reyn

The outdoor temperatures seem to be taking their cue from the calendar, taking a steep dive in recent days as we prepare for the arrival of Fall this weekend. It's time for me to get cozy with a historical novel, The Imperial Wife by Russian-born author Irina Reyn. The book deals with two of my favourite subjects, art and Russian history.

The wife referenced in the title is the eighteenth century Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great. I've read a few books set around the time of the Russian Revolution but this is my first for this time period. All I know about the woman is that she was a great patron of the arts (her personal collection was a basis for the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg) and her summer residence, the Catherine Palace, was the site of the Amber Room (which disappeared during WW II).

Returning to the novel, an interesting question is raised on the author's website: what happens to a marriage – or even an entire nation – when a wife is more powerful than her husband? 

Irina Reyn's website is irinareyn.com.