Afbeelding van de auteur.

Eva Stachniak

Auteur van The Winter Palace

7 Werken 1,312 Leden 116 Besprekingen Favoriet van 1 leden

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Bevat de namen: Ewa Stachniak, Eva Stachniak

Fotografie: Eva Stachniak

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Werken van Eva Stachniak

The Winter Palace (2012) 870 exemplaren
Empress of the Night (2013) 190 exemplaren
The School of Mirrors (2021) 87 exemplaren
Garden of Venus (2005) 68 exemplaren
The Chosen Maiden (2016) 65 exemplaren
Necessary Lies (2000) 31 exemplaren
Dysonans (2009) 1 exemplaar

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Algemene kennis

Gangbare naam
Stachniak, Eva
Officiële naam
Stachniak, Ewa
Geboortedatum
1952
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
Poland (birth)
Canada
Geboorteplaats
Wrocław, Poland
Woonplaatsen
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opleiding
McGill University
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Beroepen
writer
Organisaties
University of Wrocław, Poland
Radio Canada International
Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada
Prijzen en onderscheidingen
Amazon.com/Books in Canada First Novel Award, 2000
Korte biografie
I was born in Wrocław, Poland. I came to Canada in 1981 on an English scholarship to McGill University. In Poland I taught at the English Department of the University of Wrocław . At McGill I defended my doctoral thesis: Positive Philosophy of Exile in Stefan Themerson’s Fiction in 1988. In 1984-86 I worked for Radio Canada International, the Polish Section, in Montreal, writing and producing radio programs about Canada. In 1988 I joined the faculty of Sheridan College where I taught English and humanities courses until 2007. My first short story, "Marble Heroes," was published by the Antigonish Review in 1994, and my debut novel, Necessary Lies , won the Amazon.com/Books in CanadaFirst Novel Award in 2000.
I live in Toronto.

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Besprekingen

Captivating historical fiction set in eighteenth-century Versailles and Paris during the decades before, during, and after the French Revolution. The researched details about palace life in the years of Louis XV, including among those who were in service to the crown, the innovations in midwifery by Madame du Coudray, and the madness of the Revolution and its fallout breathe life into this moment in time. It is difficult to confront what was factually true -- the child rape and human trafficking -- central to the first part of the novel, in which we meet fourteen-year-old Veronique Roux, one of the "little birds" plucked from poverty to be shined up for their benefactor, who they believe to be a Polish count but is in fact Louis XV. And when she inevitably gets pregnant, she is sent away to give birth and then to be married off to a wealthy merchant, but her daughter, Marie-Louise, is taken from her at birth. The remainder of the novel is focused on Marie-Louise, who eventually comes to live with a midwife, Aunt Margot, who was trained by Madame du Coudray and who passes on her knowledge to many, including Marie-Louise. I found the character of her husband, Pierre Vernault, a bit flat, but others were fleshed out beautifully.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
bschweiger | 6 andere besprekingen | Feb 4, 2024 |
Many other reviewers have summarized this book, so I’ll focus my review elsewhere. This story of the time of the French Revolution is expertly woven around the lives of women who survived throughout it. The women, disadvantaged and advantaged by turns, struggle onwards, gain skills and lose sponsors, are sexually abused (warning, though this is handled quite carefully and though repugnant, was indeed a fact of the time and so appropriate to include), and take mastery.
I particularly enjoyed the fact based plot of the midwives, their training and respectful treatment.
The revolution itself is well-described, the feeling of unease, the shortages, the men shouting hate, the women spreading poisonous gossip. It didn’t seem to have worked out well for anyone. For this reason I recommend this book to US readers who might think revolution is a glorious thing, especially in the current political climate. Be careful what you wish for.
A rewarding read. I’m looking forward to meeting the author.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
Dabble58 | 6 andere besprekingen | Nov 11, 2023 |
Eva Stachniak is giving a session at this fall’s Kingston WritersFest and I hadn’t read anything by her so off I trotted to the library to pick up this book. I’m glad I did- I’ve spent the past two days wrapped up in tales of imperial intrigue in Catherine the great’s ascent in Russia.
Historical fiction can drag as the reader is brought into the necessary details of the time, but this story is told through the eyes of a bookbinder’s daughter and as such is immediately relatable. She becomes a palace spy and her acute reports of activities at court and the beliefs and iconography of that time make the story rich.
As the time comes up to the death of the Empress, the tale takes on a thriller-like pace. Threads of loyalty are stretched, secrets revealed, danger abounds. It all makes for a fun read.
As a Canadian, well familiar with winter scenery, it was good to read about the prettiness of Russian winters - often winter is described as hellish but in this book the beauty becomes part of the character of the book. Stachniak includes descriptions of smells and tastes and the feel of fabrics so well you can imagine yourself at court.

Enjoyable, evocative, and intriguing as well.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
Dabble58 | 80 andere besprekingen | Nov 11, 2023 |
The year, 1755. Thirteen-year-old Véronique Roux lives in a squalid Paris apartment with her mother, who scratches out a living mending old clothes, and three younger brothers. One day, Maman tells Véronique she’s to go into service for a wealthy nobleman, and just like that, the girl’s shipped off to a splendid home a brief carriage ride from Versailles, where Louis XV holds court. Naturally, her mother receives certain financial considerations.

Told that her patron is a Polish nobleman attached to the court, Véronique is groomed for her upcoming service to him. She’s given plenty to eat; her skin and hair cleansed of lice and treated for various ailments common to poor children; she’s taught penmanship, posture, and comportment; taught to improve her singing and recitation; and, most important, receives instruction, religious and secular, stressing modesty, restraint, and obedience. In other words, qualities foreign to the French monarchy.

Meanwhile, the narrative also recounts life within the palace at Versailles. In particular, we learn how the king, jaded and bored with his caged existence, longs for pleasures to lift his heart (and another part of his anatomy, which seems to rule his moods). He can’t stand dealing with matters of state, which include a war that’s going badly, so he spends as little time on these as possible. How droll.

Rather, everyone close to him, most especially his former mistress and closest advisor, Madame de Pompadour, do their best to divert him with gossip, prop up his flagging ego, and provide tender flesh to interest that other, significant part of him. Practically from the get-go, the reader understands what Véronique doesn’t: what her “service” will entail, and who her patron really is. She’s a bit dense for a Parisian girl, especially a beauty who’s endured advances from strange men and whose mother has all the tenderness of a brick, therefore the embodiment of hard lessons.

Suffice to say that the “Polish nobleman” takes a shine to Véronique, and her subsequent pregnancy gets her expelled from paradise. Her child, Marie-Louise, is taken from her, while Véronique’s packed off to marry some grain merchant.

That I haven’t yet recounted the main premise of the novel tells you the major weakness of The School of Mirrors: The story really picks up steam seventeen years and 175 pages after it begins. Marie-Louise’s life in Paris, apprenticeship to a midwife, and ringside seat at the revolution and its excesses form the core of the book, and I like this part. So do we really need to know, in meticulous detail, how despicable the Bourbon monarchy was under the previous, fifteenth Louis?

Stachniak seems to want to reveal the precise depth of sexual abuse, misogyny, and moral corruption, and what a gruesome, ugly tale it is. I don’t think that justifies its presence, and I suspect that if you began reading at page 175, you’d understand almost everything you need to know to appreciate the novel. Well-chosen back story could have filled in the rest.

The first half of the book does offer a few noteworthy characters. I like the portrayals of the king, his chief procurer, and Madame de Pompadour. The descriptions give a vivid picture of court life — the author knows her ground — though I’d have liked them better had they struck an emotional chord. Some feel merely decorative, static.

But there’s no comparing with the second half of the book, where conflict spins more rapidly, and the revolutionaries turn out to be just as corrupt as the monarchy they toppled, if in their own way. Marie-Louise has more to her than her mother, and the narrative feels more intimate, therefore more compelling.

I wonder whether Stachniak has two novels here; she’s got two stories, certainly. Her desire to connect the two and derive surprise lacks the impact she may have hoped for, but that strategy’s apparently a trend, these days: try to shock the reader, at any cost to narrative flow or plausibility. At least the author doesn’t withhold information the way some do — she’s too generous for that — but I’ve never understood the fascination with connecting multiple disparate narratives. Seldom does it work out as intended in artistic terms, so it must sell books.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
Novelhistorian | 6 andere besprekingen | Jan 24, 2023 |

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Statistieken

Werken
7
Leden
1,312
Populariteit
#19,574
Waardering
½ 3.5
Besprekingen
116
ISBNs
87
Talen
10
Favoriet
1

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