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History of a Pleasure Seeker
On sale
12th April 2012
Price: £10.99
‘An enthralling, perfectly paced romp that breathes new life into the picaresque genre’ Observer
‘Rich in period detail and with requisite glittering trappings’ Daily Mail
‘A Continental Downton Abbey plus sex, with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons tossed in’ Seattle Times
1907, Amsterdam. The belle époque is in full swing and Piet Barol has secured a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier – a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on one of the city’s grandest canals. As Piet is swept into the glittering society, he begins to uncover its secrets and finds his life transformed.
With nothing but his looks, charm and youth to rely on, he is determined to make a fortune of his own. But in the heady exhilaration of this opulent new world, amid romance, delights and temptations he has only dreamed of, Piet discovers that some of the liaisons he has cultivated are dangerous indeed . . .
‘Rich in period detail and with requisite glittering trappings’ Daily Mail
‘A Continental Downton Abbey plus sex, with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons tossed in’ Seattle Times
1907, Amsterdam. The belle époque is in full swing and Piet Barol has secured a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier – a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on one of the city’s grandest canals. As Piet is swept into the glittering society, he begins to uncover its secrets and finds his life transformed.
With nothing but his looks, charm and youth to rely on, he is determined to make a fortune of his own. But in the heady exhilaration of this opulent new world, amid romance, delights and temptations he has only dreamed of, Piet discovers that some of the liaisons he has cultivated are dangerous indeed . . .
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Reviews
Superb. . . . [Mason's] gorgeous, precise descriptions mirror Amsterdam's singular combination of material opulence and Calvinist severity
A hugely accomplished novel - the story of Piet Barol, a young, provincial Dutchman and the social and sexual adventures he embarks upon in belle epoque Amsterdam
This book about pleasure is a provocative joy
Terrific. . . . The best new work of fiction to cross my desk in many moons
Elegant, upholstered and, for all the sex, well-behaved
An elegantly written, sexy novel
Just try to resist . . . A Continental Downton Abbey plus sex, with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons tossed in
If Charles Dickens and Jane Austen had a love child who grew up reading nothing but Edith Wharton and Penthouse Forum - well, that person might be almost as wry, sexy, and knowing a writer as Richard Mason
A masterpiece. Like Henry James on Viagra. Gripping as hell . . . Piet was wonderfully drawn - rogueish and yet wholly sympathetic
Told with humour, charm, fine attention to detail and a healthy dose of eroticism
[An] artful evocation of the European Belle Époque
Exquisite. . . . A showcase for [Mason's] nimble writing, but also extends his storytelling prowess
Think Balzac but lighter and sexier - an exquisitely laced corset of a novel with a sleek, modern zipper down the side
Sex is everywhere, both well described and very funny . . . an enthralling, perfectly paced romp that breathes new life into the picaresque genre
Edith Wharton would be impressed. . . . Lovely and rich
Piet Barol is a dashing young man of the Belle Epoque who seduces his way into a life of decadence in this fast-paced historical page-turner
This elegantly plotted and witty tale unfolds in prose that is not just confident, but impressively stylish
[An] up-close mix of luxury, labor and longing - plus a country house's-worth of burbling romance
A picaresque novel in the 18th-century tradition of John Cleland's Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure and Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones. . . . Piet is a charmer
A sharply written story of love, money and erotic intrigue pulsing behind the staid canal fronts of nineteenth century Amsterdam. Mason's hero is amoral but irresistible. I was gripped till the very last page
A gorgeous confection. . . . Piet is the rare character - the rare being - whose unfailing charm and luck only make us cheer him on more
Rich in period detail and with requisite glittering trappings, it's the sex that is most carefully observed in Mason's lusty romp