Garden of Venus

By Eva Stachniak

Book Overview

An alluring, exotic novel set in the early nineteenth century, based on the life of the famous and much-painted courtesan, La Belle Phanariote. Sophie, the Countess Potocki, is travelling with her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007180446
• ISBN13: 9780007180448
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly written novel with exotic scenes & lots of history

I loved this book. The novel is set up in two slightly differing times and circumstances. It describes a life of Sophie Glavani-Potocka, a famous courtesan born in Greece in a poor family. Sophie later moved to Poland where she married the very important aristocrat. She was able to change her status thanks to her beauty, intelligence and shrewdness. The history of Poland, the history of Europe of that time (turn of 18th and 19th centuries) is intertwined in her life. The characters live and breathe and their world is filled with fascinating details. I really recommend it to everybody. It is a very joyful and interesting book.

suprisingly good

I actually picked this book up under it's alternative title "Dancing with Kings" as a light 'puff-piece' read between heavier historical biographies & am very glad I did. It is well written and especially interesting for those who like their European history. I was especially interested to discover that the heroine of the story was based on fact and that the more incredible 'plot turns' in Countess Sophie's life, were actually true. Am amazed we haven't heard more of her before. It's not a deep book nor is Sophie especially sympathetic as a heroine, however it's possibly the honesty of the story and the characters that made it a far more intelligent and entertaining read than I had expected.