Originally published: Great Britain : Profile Books, 2009

The coronation of a usurper, 1762 -- From Pomerania to St Petersburg, 1729-1744 -- Betrothal and marriage, 1744-1745 -- Living and loving at the Court of Empress Elizabeth, 1746-1753 -- Ambition, 1754-1759 -- Assassination, 1759-1762 -- "Our Lady of St Petersburg," 1763-1766 -- Philosopher on the throne, 1767-1768 -- Imperial ambitions, 1768-1772 -- Paul, Pugachëv, and Potëmkin, 1772-1775 -- The search for emotional stability, 1776-1784 -- Zenith, 1785-1790 -- End of an era, 1790-1796 -- The afterlife of an empress

A portrait of the eighteenth-century Russian empress documents her rise from a little-known German princess to become one of Europe's most celebrated monarchs, in an account that offers insight into her public and private achievements