An Evening at The Octagon with Ellen Alpsten

An Evening at the Grassington Octagon Theatre with author Ellen Alpsten

Ellen Alpsten is coming to the Grassington Octagon on the 14th June to tell us all about her books Tsarina and Tsarina's Daughter. During the evening we will be raising funds for Ukraine in conjunction  with Edinburgh Direct Aid via Grassington's Ragdoll Interiors

Tickets for this event are £5.

Tickets can be bought in The Stripey Badger or online here

Tsarina

Lover, mother, murderer, Tsarina1699: Illegitimate, destitute and  strikingly beautiful, Marta is sold into labour at the age of fifteen -  where in desperation she commits a crime that will force her to go on  the run. Cheating death at every turn, she is swept into the current of  the Great Northern War. Working as a washer woman at a battle camp, she  catches the eye of none other than Peter the Great. Passionate  and iron-willed, Peter has a vision for transforming the traditionalist  Tsardom of Russia into a modern, Western empire. With nothing but wits,  courage and formidable ambition, Marta will rise from nothing to become  Catherine I of Russia. But it comes at a steep price and is tied to the  destiny of Russia itself.

Tsarina's Daughter

When they took everything from her, they didn't count on her fighting to get it back... Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great  and Catherine I, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the world's loveliest  Princess and the envy of the Russian empire. Insulated by luxury and as a  woman free from the burden of statecraft, Elizabeth is seemingly born  to pursue her passions.   However, a dark prophecy predicts her fate as  being inexorably twined with that of Russia.

When her mother  dies, Russia is torn, masks fall, and friends become foes. Elizabeth's  idyllic world is upended. By her twenties she is penniless and  powerless, living under constant threat.

As times change like  quicksand, an all-consuming passion emboldens Elizabeth: she must decide  whether to take up her role as Russia's ruler, and what she's willing  to do for her country - and for love.