Garden Of Venus - Softcover

Stachniak, Eva

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006395430 ISBN 13: 9780006395430

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2006

Synopsis

Garden of Venus is the story of an extraordinary life woveninto the fabric of Eastern European history. A saga that sweeps from the olivegroves of Greece to the bazaars of Istanbul, from a draughty Berlin palace tothe inner chambers of Marie Antoinette’s gilded Parisian boudoir, this is thelife of a girl—daughter of a Greek peasant—who became a courtesan, courtier,countess and confidante to tsars, queens and kings.

Based on the life of the famous and beloved courtier andcountess La Belle Phanariote, Stachniak’s novel is brilliantly written andalive with unforgettable characters. Garden of Venus is analluring, sensuous and exotic saga from a winner of the Amazon.com/Books inCanada First Novel Award.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

An alluring, exotic novel set in the early nineteenth century, based on the life and world of one of the most celebrated courtesans.

Sophie, the Countess Potocki, is travelling with her entourage from St Petersburg to Paris, to consult with French doctors, when she stops at the Berlin palace of her friend, the Graf von Haefen. There she will play her final role.

Sophie’s whole extraordinary life during one of the most turbulent periods of European history comes back to haunt her - the many strands of her life, the many roles in which she has presented herself, the many biographies she has made up, the many lovers and protectors she has cherished and deceived. Needing always to assure her survival in a harsh world, using her beauty, learning her charm and social skills, she could not afford the luxury of loving. But one man did hold her heart.

Now she uses the lessons that she has acquired to manipulate the lives of those around her. But two of them, her Polish lady-in-waiting and the French doctor summoned to her, have been brought up in a different, more modern era. Her lady-in-waiting survived the terrible wars that tore her family apart, and the doctor is a child of the revolutionary spirit that burnt through Europe from Paris. Both have very different ideas than the Countess Potocki on how to lives their lives, and how to survive the turmoil in the beginning of this new century.

BACK

‘Stories precede her. Whispers of delighted amusement at her exotic beauty, her mysterious past. Some swear she has been a Sultan’s odalisque. Others that she is a Greek princess. Princes praise her exquisite manners and her pleasing ways. And the King of Poland leads her in the polonaise.’

BACK FLAP

Eva Stachniak was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She emigrated to Canada in 1981, on scholarship to McGill University in Montreal. In Poland she taught English Literature at the University of Wroclaw. She teaches at Sheridan College, in Oakville, Ontario. Her fiction is the result of her fascination with the ways history and culture shape our lives. She lives in Mississauga, Ontario, with her husband and is currently working on her second novel.

About the Author:

Eva Stachniak was born in Poland and now lives in Canada. She has been a teacher and librarian. This is her first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0006395430
• ISBN 13: 9780006395430
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480