Best Selling Books by Virginia Rounding

Dutiful daughter, frustrated wife, passionate lover, domineering mother, doting grandmother, devoted friend, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers—the Empress Catherine II, the Great, was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian Imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during those years she built on the work begun by her most famous predecessor, Peter the Great, to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London in the beauty of its architecture, the glittering splendor of its Court and the magnificence of its art collections. Yet the great Catherine was not even Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions and plagues, by the force of her personality, by her charm and determination, and by an unshakable belief in her own destiny. This is the story of Catherine the woman, whom power alone could never satisfy, for she also wanted love, affection, friendship and humor. She found these in letter-writing, in grandchildren, in gardens, architecture and greyhounds—as well as in a succession of lovers which gave rise to salacious rumors throughout Europe. The real Catherine, however, was more interesting than any rumor. Using many of Catherine''s own words from her voluminous correspondence and other documents, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this most powerful, fascinating and surprisingly sympathetic of eighteenth-century women.

Unraveling myth from reality, this intriguing study goes inside the boudoir to reveal the real-life world of the legendary French courtesans of the nineteenth century, describing the reputations and influence of Marie Duplessis, Cora Pearl, La Pava, and Apollonie Sabatier, La Prsidente. 12,000 first printing.

Smithfield, settled on the fringes of Roman London, was once a place of revelry. Jesters and crowds flocked for the medieval St Bartholomew''s Day celebrations, tournaments were plentiful and it became the location of London''s most famous meat market. Yet in Tudor England, Smithfield had another, more sinister use: the public execution of heretics. The Burning Time is a vivid insight into an era in which what was orthodoxy one year might be dangerous heresy the next. The first martyrs were Catholics, who cleaved to Rome in defiance of Henry VIII''s break with the papacy. But with the accession of Henry''s daughter Mary - soon to be nicknamed ''Bloody Mary'' - the charge of heresy was leveled against devout Protestants, who chose to burn rather than recant. At the center of Virginia Rounding''s vivid account of this extraordinary period are two very different characters. The first is Richard Rich, Thomas Cromwell''s protégé, who, almost uniquely, remained in a position of great power, influence and wealth under three Tudor monarchs, and who helped send many devout men and women to their deaths. The second is John Deane, Rector of St Bartholomew''s, who was able, somehow, to navigate the treacherous waters of changing dogma and help others to survive. The Burning Time is their story, but it is also the story of the hundreds of men and women who were put to the fire for their faith.

The dramatic story of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia—A penetrating and deeply personal study that gives profound psychological insight into their marriage and how it shaped the events that engulfed them. There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand, they are venerated as saints, innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins, and on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution and imperial collapse, blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them, there can be no doubt that Alix and Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement, Alix wrote in her fiancé''s diary: "Ever true and ever loving, faithful, pure and strong as death"—words which met their fulfillment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg. Through the letters and diaries written by the couple and by those around them, Virginia Rounding presents an intimate, penetrating, and fresh portrayal of these two complex figures and of their passion—their love and their suffering. She explores the nature and possible causes of the Empress''s ill health, and examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and their ‘favourite,'' Ania Vyrubova, protégée of the infamous Rasputin, extracting the meaning from words left unsaid, from hints and innuendoes.. The story of Alix and Nicky, of their four daughters known collectively as ‘OTMA'' and of their hemophiliac little boy Alexei, is endlessly fascinating, and Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their human dimensions and expertly leading the reader into their vanished world.

This book is about parish ministry and how to survive it. ''Survival'' means to make it through the storm and outlast ones opponents! This is a practical handbook based on the premise that with preparation and careful foundation work, the problems facing the life of the ordinary clergy can be prevented. Looking at themes of crisis management, models of leadership, resource-management and then at the risks taken in carrying out the God-given calling and providing concrete examples of difficult situations, Dudley and Rounding also give wise and heartening advice on limiting the damage if things do slip out of control.

With the aid of case histories and checklists, this guide addresses the responsibilities and potential problems that face the churchwardens of the twenty-first century. The content of this guide is designed to relate closely to real life situations.

Le Second Empire a été sans nul doute l''âge d''or des courtisanes françaises, devenues idoles de leur époque. Femmes légendaires, dont la richesse et le pouvoir étaient stupéfiants, dont la beauté, la force de séduction ont vaincu la raison des hommes... Virginia Rounding ne se contente pas de raconter leurs vies, elle s''attache aussi à décrire l''aura mythique qui les entourait. Ainsi de Marie Duplessis, devenue le prototype de la courtisane vertueuse ; d''Apollonie Sabatier, qui a su comme personne mettre chacun à l''aise dans son salon, où les propos les plus crus étaient de mise ; de la Païva, une émigrée russe qui semblait apprécier la chair fraîche des jeunes hommes riches ; quant à Cora Pearl, beauté anglaise flamboyante, elle avait le don de " faire rire les hommes qui s''ennuyaient ". Les Grandes Horizontales nous livrent un portrait haut en couleur du Paris du dix-neuvième siècle et de ses plus brillantes personnalités. On ne jugeait pas seulement une femme vénale au prix atteint par ses faveurs, mais aussi à son degré de liberté dans le choix de ses clients. La prostituée la plus humble, tout en bas de l''échelle, n''avait d''autre choix que le tout-venant ; l''élite du demi-monde, la courtisane réputée, avait à ses pieds un choix quasi infini. Généralement, la taille de la fortune l''emportait sur les qualités personnelles de l''amant en puissance - mais enfin, elle avait le choix. Du moins est-ce la vision optimiste de sa situation ; en réalité, plus la courtisane était luxueusement entretenue, plus elle dépensait, et plus ses besoins en argent augmentaient. Son rôle consistait à dépenser, bien plutôt qu''à épargner, l''argent dont la couvrait son riche protecteur, car les conventions de l''époque exigeaient que la maîtresse d''un homme du monde soit l''ornement bien visible, la preuve de son rang social, et non une liaison que l''on cache dans un appartement discret. "