The Winter Palace

In the last week, I read a new (2012) novel by Eva Stachniak entitled The Winter Palace, which stated on the jacket cover that it is "A Novel of Catherine the Great." I was expecting an historical novel based in Russia in the 1700s. I got that, and much more!
While the setting is right, and the character development iffy, the author seems to be set on the perversity of the courtly life. The book is rife with sex, unnecessarily so. I found the constant references to sexual behavior distracting from the life of Catherine the Great, or of any of the palace comers or goers. Most of the book centers around how Catherine the Great is treated prior to becoming the leader of all of Russia, so I found the subtitle (A Novel of Catherine the Great) misleading. Yes, the book is also filled with court intrigue, politics, etc., but they seem to take a backseat, or at best a side seat, to the sexual activities: perverse, loose, ever-present.
I'm sorry to say that I cannot recommend this book for the sake of conscience, not prudishness. Granted, it was the important role of every woman in the imperial family to produce a male heir to the throne, but that is not the focus of these repeated encounters - it's just sex for the sake of having sex in the book. The reader is bombarded constantly with the sexual "favorite" of Elizabeth, who finally dies near the end of the book. Therefore, you don't get Catherine the Great much at all. To me, this book is mostly a sleazy, overpriced romance novel.