In the Shadow of the Empress

In the Shadow of the Empress PDF Author: Nancy Goldstone
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474609910
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description
Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of extraordinary strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable daughters: lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamorous, tragic queen of France, perhaps the most famous princess in history. Unfolding against an irresistible backdrop of brilliant courts from Vienna to Versailles, embracing the exotic lure of Naples and Sicily, this epic history of Maria Theresa and her daughters is a tour de force of desire, adventure, ambition, treachery, sorrow, and glory. Each of these women's lives was packed with passion and heart-stopping suspense. Maria Theresa inherited her father's thrones at the age of twenty-three and was immediately attacked on all sides by foreign powers confident that a woman would to be too weak to defend herself. Maria Christina, a gifted artist, who alone among her sisters succeeded in marrying for love, would face the same dangers that destroyed the monarchy in France. Resourceful Maria Carolina would usher in the golden age of Naples only to then face the deadly whirlwind of Napoleon. And, finally, Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen whose stylish excesses and captivating notoriety have masked the truth about her husband and herself for two hundred and fifty years.

In the Shadow of the Empress

In the Shadow of the Empress PDF Author: Nancy Goldstone
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474609910
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 602

Get Book Here

Book Description
Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of extraordinary strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable daughters: lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamorous, tragic queen of France, perhaps the most famous princess in history. Unfolding against an irresistible backdrop of brilliant courts from Vienna to Versailles, embracing the exotic lure of Naples and Sicily, this epic history of Maria Theresa and her daughters is a tour de force of desire, adventure, ambition, treachery, sorrow, and glory. Each of these women's lives was packed with passion and heart-stopping suspense. Maria Theresa inherited her father's thrones at the age of twenty-three and was immediately attacked on all sides by foreign powers confident that a woman would to be too weak to defend herself. Maria Christina, a gifted artist, who alone among her sisters succeeded in marrying for love, would face the same dangers that destroyed the monarchy in France. Resourceful Maria Carolina would usher in the golden age of Naples only to then face the deadly whirlwind of Napoleon. And, finally, Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen whose stylish excesses and captivating notoriety have masked the truth about her husband and herself for two hundred and fifty years.

The Maid and the Queen

The Maid and the Queen PDF Author: Nancy Goldstone
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101561297
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
“Attention, ‘Game of Thrones’ fans: The most enjoyably sensational aspects of medieval politics—double-crosses, ambushes, bizarre personal obsessions, lunacy and naked self-interest—are in abundant evidence in Nancy Goldstone's The Maid and the Queen.” (Laura Miller, Salon.com) Politically astute, ambitious, and beautiful, Yolande of Aragon, queen of Sicily, was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Caught in the complex dynastic battle of the Hundred Years War, Yolande championed the dauphin's cause against the forces of England and Burgundy, drawing on her savvy, her statecraft, and her intimate network of spies. But the enemy seemed invincible. Just as French hopes dimmed, an astonishingly courageous young woman named Joan of Arc arrived from the farthest recesses of the kingdom, claiming she carried a divine message-a message that would change the course of history and ultimately lead to the coronation of Charles VII and the triumph of France. Now, on the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, this fascinating book explores the relationship between these two remarkable women, and deepens our understanding of this dramatic period in history. How did an illiterate peasant girl gain access to the future king of France, earn his trust, and ultimately lead his forces into battle? Was it only the hand of God that moved Joan of Arc-or was it also Yolande of Aragon?

Shadow Empress

Shadow Empress PDF Author: C N Crawford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Ali -I'm now the Empress of Vanaheim and leader of all Elves. It's a lonely job, but the important thing is that the Night Elves are finally safe. At least until I learn of the invading draugr horde. I need Galin's help, and I'm desperate to see him again, but the sorcerer has plans of his own. And when he tries to rewrite our fate, I may lose everything-including him. Galin -After I fell into the Well of Wyrd, the shades dragged my shattered body to Hel. Hela may have breathed life back into me, but I've found myself trapped. Oddly enough, when Hela closes the gates to Hel, I see opportunity to escape. A chance to rewrite my fate, to find glory again. But as I spend time with Ali my icy resolve starts to crack. I want to choose her, but it could mean being stuck in Hel for good.***For readers of Kelly St. Claire, Leia Stone, Linsey Hall, and Jaymin Eve.

The Empress

The Empress PDF Author: S. J. Kincaid
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1534409947
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The thrilling sequel to S.J. Kincaid’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Diabolic, which TeenVogue.com called “the perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.” It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite. But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress. Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Shadow Princess

Shadow Princess PDF Author: Indu Sundaresan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439169144
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Critically acclaimed author Indu Sundaresan picks up where she left off in The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, returning to seventeenth-century India as two princesses struggle for supremacy of their father’s kingdom. Trapped in the shadow of the magnificent tomb their grief-stricken father is building for his beloved deceased wife, the emperor’s daughters compete for everything: control over the imperial harem, their father’s affection, and the future of their country. They are forbidden to marry and instead choose to back different brothers in the fight for ultimate power over the throne. But only one of the sisters will succeed. With an enthusiasm for history and a flair for rich detail, Indu Sundaresan brings readers deep into the complicated lives of Indian women of the time period and highlights the profound history of one of the most celebrated works of architecture in the world, the Taj Mahal.

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City PDF Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 159990795X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
"If Harry Potter lived in New York City, he'd have a mad crush on fourteen-year-old Kiki Strike." -Vanity Fair There's a secret part of New York City that no one knows about. It's protected by a mysterious group of girls known as the Irregulars, led by the alluring Kiki Strike. Inside the Shadow City introduces us to Ananka Fishbein, a regular girl whose life becomes anything but after venturing underground to join Kiki Strike and her friends, the Irregulars.

Shadow’s Lure

Shadow’s Lure PDF Author: Jon Sprunk
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
ISBN: 1625673841
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
The Shadow Saga continues with in this “fun, fast, action-packed novel” of magic, mystery, and monstrous evil (Elitist Book Reviews). After helping his lover Josephine lay claim to the throne of Nimea, the assassin Caim has ventured north to the land that has haunted his dreams—cold, unforgiving Eregoth. He departs seeking answers to his parents’ murder and hoping that this knowledge will explain his ability to bend the shadows to his will. In searching for his past, Caim wanders into war. But Eregoth is threatened by a power more terrifying than any army—the witch Sybelle, Queen of the Dark. If given the chance, her aims at destruction would not cease at Eregoth but storm through Nimea where Josey struggles to secure her reign. With nothing more than a force of ragtag warriors at his side, Caim knows that standing against Sybelle’s onslaught may be suicide. But as a son of the Shadow, he has no choice but to fight. Even if every life he takes brings him closer to the blackness that would claim him body and soul...

Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa PDF Author: Edward Crankshaw
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1448204747
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
When Edward Crankshaw's Maria Theresa was published in 1969, it was the first full length study of Maria Theresa to be written in English for sixty years. Called to the throne in 1740, at the age of twenty-three, Maria Theresa was wholly unprepared for the events that were to confront her, and trusting in the honour of her fellow monarchs, the young queen found herself with a virtually nonexistent army at the head of a bankrupt and disaffected empire - an empire shortly to be set upon by half Europe intent on shattering the Habsburg power for ever. Married to an amiable but ineffectual husband whom she adored, surrounded by shortsighted advisers senile to the point of decrepitude, her only weapons were her charm, her unbreakable will, and her almost reckless courage. With these, and by her own immense exertions, she first held her powerful enemies at bay; then, choosing new advisers with astonishing skill, and discovering in herself a fund of commonsense amounting almost to genius, she instituted wide-reaching reforms which were to unify the Empire's bewildering mixture of lands and peoples, and bring it to the threshold of the revolutionary age. With all this she remained a wife and a mother - most touchingly so in her vast correspondence with her many children.

Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa PDF Author: Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691219850
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1066

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Book Description
A major new biography of the iconic Austrian empress that challenges the many myths about her life and rule Maria Theresa (1717–1780) was once the most powerful woman in Europe. At the age of twenty-three, she ascended to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, a far-flung realm composed of diverse ethnicities and languages, beset on all sides by enemies and rivals. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger provides the definitive biography of Maria Theresa, situating this exceptional empress within her time while dispelling the myths surrounding her. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Stollberg-Rilinger examines all facets of eighteenth-century society, from piety and patronage to sexuality and childcare, ceremonial life at court, diplomacy, and the everyday indignities of warfare. She challenges the idealized image of Maria Theresa as an enlightened reformer and mother of her lands who embodied both feminine beauty and virile bellicosity, showing how she despised the ideas of the Enlightenment, treated her children with relentless austerity, and mercilessly persecuted Protestants and Jews. Work, consistent physical and mental discipline, and fear of God were the principles Maria Theresa lived by, and she demanded the same from her family, her court, and her subjects. A panoramic work of scholarship that brings Europe's age of empire spectacularly to life, Maria Theresa paints an unforgettable portrait of the uncompromising yet singularly charismatic woman who left her enduring mark on the era in which she lived and reigned.

Shadow War

Shadow War PDF Author: Deborah Chester
Publisher: Diversion Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 1626815895
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
The national bestselling author of Reign of Shadows continues her “masterful” Ruby Throne Trilogy with a novel of epic dark fantasy (Extrapolation). For nine centuries the Emperor Kostimon has sat upon the Ruby Throne. The dark lord Beloth is responsible for his eternal existence—and what the shadow god has bestowed, he can easily take away . . . As the aging Kostimon awaits the crowning of his empress, Elandra Albain, forces of evil conspire to destroy the kingdom of Imperia. Whispers of treason come from those closest to the emperor—including his own son. Pure of spirit, Elandra remains untouched by the shadow god—but she senses his return. With darkness descending, Elandra finds her destiny joined with another’s. Possessing the magic of a healer and a warrior’s might, Caelan E’non has risen from lowly slave to champion gladiator. And when the dark lord and his minions overtake the castle, he will find Elandra’s life—and the future of the empire—in his hands. “Chester is a world class fantasist.” —The Best Reviews