Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction! Catherine was a woman full of surprises and was definitely one of the most "liberated" women of her era.
This was a long book and at times, I grew weary of reading about Russian politics and economics, but I loved reading about how Catherine came to power and ruled over Russia. This may have held more interest for me if I had been more knowledgeable of Russian history before I started the book. There are many names and titles to keep up with. I wish the author had written it more chronolgically. At times, I felt he skipped around in history and that made it somewhat hard to keep up with.