As The Page Turns: Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat (1980)

Chapter One: Figchen
I've started reading Henri Troyat's biography of Catherine the Great. It's...pretty badly written. There is a lot of conjecture: "Her heart beat with unbounded pride, and yet she was anxious." How could he possibly know that? Seriously, there are no citations whatsoever in the first chapter (I was reading while cooking, so I've only managed that much so far), and the language is very emotional: "Dumbfounded, Johanna considered her daughter with an admiration mingled with fear." It's like something from a novel. Maybe all this stems from the fact that it was written a while ago (1980) or that it was originally written in French? Maybe I'm losing something by reading the translation? I did, however, learn something...whether it's true or not remains to be seen: I did not know that Catherine's childhood nickname was "Figchen". That's actually kind of cute.