Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Pilgrim Princess : A Life of Princess Volkonsky, Paperback / softback Book

The Pilgrim Princess : A Life of Princess Volkonsky Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Out of stock

Description

This biography brings to life, through its subject's vibrant personality, a romantic period of enduring fascination.

Princess Zinaida Volkonsky was a member of one of Russia's oldest families, became a maid of honour to the Dowager Empress and at court was soon noticed by Tsar Alexander I whose mistress she became and with whom she maintained a deep and lifelong friendship. Married to one of the Tsar's aides-de-camp, she travelled across Europe during the German and French campaigns, when she met Goethe.

In the 1820s as the hostess of one of the most influential literary and musical salons in Moscow, where Alexander Pushkin was a leading guest, Zinaida became the glamorous hostess who later inspired Tolstoy. Zinaida inherited a strong tendency to depression.

A lifelong search for spiritual answers eventually brought her to the Roman Catholic church and to a new life in Rome.

Here, she at first created another salon, entertaining among many Stendhal, Rossini, Donizetti, Glinka and Sir Walter Scott.

It was in her garden that Nikolai Gogol, worked on part of his great novel, Dead Souls.

Information

£10.99

Out of stock
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information