This was a very readable biography of a highly interesting lady. Princess Zinaida Volkonsky was born into the highest echelons of the Russian aristocracy. She became a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Maria Feodorovna (the first one, not the mother of Nicholas II) and later became the mistress of Tsar Alexander I. Artistic and cultured, she served as the prototype for Helena Kuragin, in Tolstoy's War In Peace. This book has it all: war, peace, love, and hate. It's all set against the backdrop of Napoleon's siege of Russia and the subsequent events that it led to. Zinaida eventually found herself in Italy where an invitation to her salon was highly prized and sought after. Very good reading. ( )