The Fiery Pantheon: A Novel - Softcover

Amy Hempel Nancy Lemann has so many gifts as a writer it feels odd to point first to her generous heart. But that is where it all begins: the romanticism, the affectionate humor, the elegant locutions that echo another era, and, of course, her ceaseless devotion to the South.

The Boston Globe A New Orleans version of Jane Austen.

Entertainment Weekly Lemann's writing -- at once wry and sumptuous -- will glue you to your chair with the intoxicating effect of a mint julep on a sultry summer day.

Julia Reed The New York Times Book Review Seductive...The Fiery Pantheon is a lovely, lyrical work of fiction.

Mary Kay Zuravleff The Washington Post Book World Delightful...your resistence proves futile. Good thing, because once you surrender, you can accompany this accomplished, generous storyteller on a trip around the world. Ultimately, stand in awe as Nancy Lemann asks where in the world is home and then arrives at an answer as satisfying as it is tender.

The Times-Picayune A perfect barometer of the Southern soul.

Chicago Tribune This is Lemann at her witty best, showing us the quirky mannerisms beneath the manners and leading us through a world that through its exaggerated gestures, reveals both the charms and danger of our own.

Elle Nancy Lemann's baroque voice channels the elegant phrasing of another era; playful stateliness ensues. As the Stewart family leaves a famed resort in Virginia for an episodic tour of the splendid ruined cities of the Ottoman Empire, one hears beneath the author's stylized nostalgia a genuine nostalgia -- for home, for honor, for romance with "dash."

Vogue Another gorgeous winner from Lemann.

Anniston Star What makes The Fiery Pantheon such a pleasure is Nancy Lemann's fey, delightful writing, as nonsensical as it is precise, full of the unexpected turn of phrase and as incantatory as light verse.

Engaged to an ideal Southern gentleman, Grace Stewart finds both her love and loyalty to tradition sorely tested on a family vacation during which she meets a brilliant and appealing Wall Street analyst. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.