Douglas Smith: 'The Pearl'
Reconstructed in part from archival documents that have lain untouched for centuries, Douglas Smith's "The Pearl" presents the most complete and accurate account ever written of the illicit love between Count Nicholas Sheremetev (1751-1809), Russia's richest aristocrat, and Praskovia Kovalyova (1768-1803), his serf and the greatest opera diva of her time. Douglas Smith is an awarding-winning historian and translator and a resident scholar at the UW's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.