"Catherine the Great was a formidable Russian empress who gained the throne by overthrowing her husband, Peter III. This biography for early readers examines her life in a simple, age-appropriate way that helps young readers develop word recognition and reading skills. This title helps all readers learn about a historical female leader who made a difference in our world. The My Itty-Bitty Bio series celebrates diversity and inclusion, values that...

Tells the story of Catherine the Great, who transformed herself from an obscure young German princess into Russia's most powerful regent. Depicts her development as she learns the ways of Russian society and politics. Follows her as she seizes her chance for power in a daring coup and becomes Empress. Shows how she strove to modernize Russia with new ideas on health and education, but also waged numerous wars in a ruthless quest for expansion and...

One of the most remarkable women of the modern era, Josephine Bonaparte was born Rose de Tasher on her family's sugar plantation in Martinique. She embodied all the characteristics of a true Creole-sensuality, vivacity, and willfulness. Using diaries and letters, Andrea Stuart expertly re-creates Josephine's whirlwind of a life, which began with an isolated Caribbean childhood and led to a marriage that would usher her onto the world stage and crown...

This book is a gripping, long-overdue biography of one of the most intriguing and powerful female figures of Western history: Theodora of Byzantium. Ruthlessly criticized and reviled by her contemporaries, Theodora, the beautiful wife of Emperor Justinian, began her life as the daughter of a bear-keeper and rose to be Justinian's partner in politics as well as in life, ruling from 527 to 548. She stood by his side in Constantinople as he built a "second...

"A well-written, thoroughly researched story of a popular and beautiful empress, who, while self-indulgent, sought a life of privacy and peace, and showed sympathy and charity toward the poor." - Kirkus Reviews In 1898 Luigi Lucheni fatally stabbed Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, on Lake Geneva as she prepared to board a steamer from the Mont Blanc pier. Her life had been one of both profound sadness and inspiring perseverance; and in its course she...

Raised in the Dusklands where her power to create illusions was regarded as a curse, Sylvie has traveled to Coeur d'Or, where the Amber Empress, the cruel Severine, rules in hopes of finding her legacy--but the court is full of dark secrets and deadly intrigues, and Sylvie, now renamed Mirage, must learn to hone her magic, and find her way past the enmity of the empress to claim the place that is hers by right of birth.

"The Walking Boy is a quest novel set in early eighth-century Tang Dynasty China, in the final days of the rule of the first Female Emperor Wu Zhao. The ailing hermit monk Harelip sends his disciple Baoshi on a pilgrimage from Mount Hua to Chang'an, the Western capital; Baoshi is the "walking boy" charged with locating Harelip's missing former lover Ardhanari. Baoshi lives with a secret only his Master knows, and he is filled with fears of being discovered....

The bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and The Last Wife of Henry VIII returns with an enchanting novel about one of the most seductive women in history: Josephine Bonaparte, first wife of Napoleon. Born on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Josephine had an exotic Creole appeal that would ultimately propel her to reign over an empire as wife of the most powerful man in the world. But her life is a story of ambition and danger,...

"Expecting to find allies among the deserting Levanti, Rah instead finds an enemy in their enigmatic Horse Whisperer. No longer a unified group, he struggles to lead the fractured Levanti, and will have to choose between fighting for his people's survival and the life of his oldest friend. Having allies isn't the same as keeping them. Miko has to move fast to secure a foothold in the ruins of her empire, yet for every success she makes ever more enemies....