A rare signed copy of Ellen Alpsten's 1st novel. Signed to title page. Taken from dust jacket ...... "Spring 1699: Illegitimate, destitute and strikingly beautiful, Marta has survived the brutal Russian winter in her remote Baltic village. Sold by her family into household labour at the age of fifteen, Marta escapes by committing a crime that that will force her to go on the run. A world away, Russia's young ruler Tsar Peter I, passionate and iron-willed, has a vision for transforming the traditionalist Tsardom of Russia into a modern Western empire. Countless lives will be lost in the process. Caught up in the great northern war, Marta cheats death at every turn, finding work as a washerwoman at a battle camp. One night at a celebration, she encounters Peter the Great. Relying on her wits and her formidable courage, and fuelled by ambition, desire and the sheer will to live, Marta will become Catherine I of Russia. But her rise to the top is ridden with peril; how long will she sur