The Imperial Wife

June 1, 2016
The discovery of a historic Russian artifact kicks off a dual narrative of two women separated by centuries but united in grit and ambition.Tanya Kagan arrived in Queens as a child with her poor Russian immigrant parents but has fought her way to the role of specialist in Russian art at a tony New York auction house. As her career rises, her marriage--to Carl Vandermotter, the academic son of threadbare Upper East Side bluebloods--is faltering. Carl has written a bestselling novel about the early years of Catherine the Great, relating her life from her arrival in Russia from Prussia to marry the weak, impotent Peter to her ascent to the role of empress. Chapters from Carl's novel, Young Catherine, alternate with Tanya's story as Tanya prepares for a spectacular auction of The Order of St. Catherine, a medallion given to the young Catherine by the Empress Elizabeth in 1744. Author Reyn (What Happened to Anna K, 2008) juggles the dual narratives effectively, finding parallels in the stories of two young women in a foreign land with few allies and ineffectual husbands. Tanya is the more compelling character, full of fire and drive, scrappy and self-aware, prone to tart observations of the class divide, not only between herself and her WASP colleagues, but also between the Russia she left and the world of her new-money oligarch clientele: "This is the new Russia: technology and hair and the frisson of danger." Young Catherine is a more remote figure, both historically and by virtue of the fact that she is the creation of another character. A twist at the end pulls the stories together in a satisfying manner. The stories of two eras and two marriages are related in evocative language steeped in keenly observed details.

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June 1, 2016
How do high-powered women navigate their world? What concessions should they make to achieve domestic harmony? Reyn (What Happened to Anna K., 2008) raises these important questions through the parallel tales of Tanya Kagan Vandermotter, head of Russian art at a New York auction house, and Catherine the Great, the intelligent German princess who deposed her ineffectual husband to claim Russia's throne for herself. Feeling obliged to compensate for her modest Russian Jewish immigrant background, Tanya is ultracompetent at her job, and coordinating an auction for a medallion that probably belonged to the empress would cement her career. However, her best-selling-writer husband chooses that moment to flee, seemingly threatened by her success. Readers are treated to fabulous set pieces as the plot moves from the glittering Saint Petersburg court in the eighteenth century to an opulent party in the company of Russian oligarchs along the modern Cote d'Azur. With its sharp characterizations and unexpected twists, Reyn's novel keeps readers on their toes. Both women elicit compassion due to their position as outsiders, and their stories intertwine in playful and profound ways.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)