She was the first woman in Chinese history to rule in her own name, yet the history books branded her a “venomous empress.” At sixteen, Lü Zhi was forced to marry Liu Bang, the much older head of the Sishui Pavilion. Their seemingly ill-matched marriage became the beginning of her entry into the whirlpool of power. From a bride in Pei County to the mistress of Weiyang Palace, she endured the flames of the Chu-Han Contention and the humiliation of spending two years as a hostage. She lost the person she loved amid the intrigues of the harem and was forged into steel through political power struggles. This is the legend of how a woman in a world ruled by men rose from a political pawn to the one moving the pieces. She was no born schemer, but a survivor swept to the heights of power by the currents of her age. In this novel, Lü Zhi tells her story in her own words: her love and hatred, struggles and choices, revealing a female politician who is more complex, multifaceted, and real.
