Virginia Rounding

Virginia Rounding is an author and book critic, specialising in Russia and the history of women. Her most recent book was a biography of the Empress Catherine II, Catherine the Great: Love, Sex and Power, 2006, described by Frances Wilson in the Daily Telegraph as ‘a thumping great triumph of a book’. This was preceded by a study of French courtesans Grandes Horizontales, 2003, described by Christopher Hirst in the Independent as ‘impeccably researched, a flirt of a book, enjoyable and sexy’. She is currently working on a new biography of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. She is also the joint author, with Martin Dudley, of a series of books on church administration.

She reviews widely for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including the Daily Telegraph, FT Magazine, Independent, Daily Mail and Moscow Times. Her most recent television appearance was in a Channel 4 documentary about Pamela Churchill Harriman (Churchill’s Girl, 2006). Virginia lives in the Hoxton area of London and is a member of the board of London TravelWatch, the official watchdog organisation representing the interests of transport users in and around the capital.