The Memoirs of Catherine the Great provides an unparalleled window into eighteenth-century Russia and the mind of an absolute ruler.

This is the story of Catherine the woman, whom power alone could never satisfy, for she also wanted love, affection, friendship and humor.

Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova (1743 – 1810) was a leading figure of the Russian Enlightenment and the closest female friend of Empress Catherine the Great.