History of a Pleasure Seeker - Softcover

Críticas

"Beautifully observed, perfectly paced, genuinely sexy, and in the end, a terrifically fun read. Mason's ability to inhabit the inner voices of the servants and those they serve lends the book a rich realism." --"The Boston Globe" "An engaging picaresque romp . . . funny, touching, and arousing . . . Mason does a stellar job of creating a particular time and place." --"Edmonton Journal" "Highly recommended as an engaging portrait of an individual, a family, and time." --"Library Journal," starred "This bildrungsroman is as smart as it is seductive . . . Readers will savor final scenes aboard the gilded ocean-liner Eugenie and welcome the undercurrent that perhaps Piet's good fortune isn't luck at all but a lesson that pleasure exists for those who seek it." --"Booklist " "As if plucked from a patisserie display case, Mr. Mason's novel is a gorgeous confection""--The New York Times "History of a Pleasure Seeker ""is the best new work of fiction to cross my desk in many moons. Mason ... has written an unabashed romance, a classic... There is an almost magical quality to it that had me thoroughly engaged from first page to last. ... Mason has an appealingly playful quality that has never been more evident than it is here; he likes all of his characters and mostly gives them what they deserve; he conjures up early-20th-century Amsterdam and, more briefly, New York, with confidence and exceptional descriptive powers." ""--"The Washington Post" "Mason writes in a beautifully turned, classical style that yields pleasing phrases and psychological complexity... Genuinely moving."""--"The New York Times Book Review" "It's hard to imagine a better connoisseur of late 19th-century Europe's gilded delights than Piet Barol, the bisexual hero at the heart of Richard Mason's witty fourth novel, "History of a Pleasure Seeker.".. Think Balzac, but lighter and sexier - an exquisitely laced corset of a n

Reseña del editor

'The adventures of adolescence had taught Piet Barol that he was extremely attractive to most women and to many men. He was old enough to be pragmatic about this advantage...'

It is 1907. The belle époque is in full swing. Piet Barol has escaped the drabness of the provinces for the grandest mansion in Amsterdam. As tutor to the son of Europe's wealthiest hotelier, he learns the intimate secrets of this glittering family - and changes it forever. With nothing but his exquisite looks and wit to rely on, he is determined to make a fortune of his own. But in the heady exhilaration of this new world, amid delights and temptations he has only dreamed of, Piet discovers that some of the liaisons he has cultivated are dangerous indeed.