He’s the talk of Europe don’t you know …
My reading experience:
Firstly I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.
This is a vibrant, rich and intense story filled with characters who act out the themes of class, social prejudice, sexuality and the social limitations of the era and shame.
Our two protagonists are setting out on a Grand Tour and what they encounter is a much more colourful journey than either of them expected that will test their sibling relationship, values and beliefs.
A note about the book design which captures the essence of the story set in the eighteenth century.
Amazon:
When Benjamin and Edgar Bowen embark on a Grand Tour of Europe, they are ready to meet People of Quality. They have trunks full of powdered silver wigs and matching suits, a hunger to experience the architectural wonders of Ancient Rome and an ability to quote Voltaire (at length). They will make connections and establish themselves in high society, just as their mother has planned.
But it soon becomes apparent that their outfits are not quite the right shade of grey, their smiles are too ready, their appreciation of the arts ridiculous. Class, they learn, is not something that can be studied.
Benjamin’s true education begins when he meets Horace Lavelle. Beautiful, charismatic, seductive, Lavelle delights in skewering the pretensions and prejudices of their milieu. He consumes Benjamin’s every thought.
Love can transform a person. Can it save them?
Appletree Books 