The Pearl: A true tale of forbidden love in Catherine the Great’s Russia
Douglas Smith

Yale, £25 (978-0-300-12041-7)
Church Times Bookshop £22.50

Praskovia Kovalyova (above) was born a serf in 18th-century Russia, but, known as “the Pearl”, she became one of the greatest opera singers of the age, and the beloved mistress of Russia’s richest aristocrat. Her story is told in this book.

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