Lessons of Desire
by Madeline Hunter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Madeline HunterEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-25
ISBN: 0440243947
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Lessons of Desire
Book Review: A great story of freedom and trust set in Naples and London
Summary: 5 Stars
The cover of this book and its title might suggest that it's one of the run-of-the mill historical romances which is more about sex than anything else. However, "Lessons Of Desire" was a pleasant surprise in that there was a great deal more to it than a sexy romance.
The heroine of the story, Phaedra Blair, appears to be a confirmed eccentric and bluestocking. The illegitimate daughter of a proponent of free love, Phaedra doesn't bow to conventional society's requirements - she dresses oddly, wears her hair down, is 'close friends' with men and consequently is treated as a social pariah, even worse in some ways than a mistress. She has just become the proprietor of a publishing concern and plans to print her father's memoirs - however, within those memoirs she has found evidence that her mother took a lover before her death and that the lover was a fraud and tricked her with a gift of a 'priceless' cameo from Pompeii. Phaedra wants to find out whether her mother really had taken a lover and whether she was deceived before publishing the book.
Unfortunately for Phaedra there's more in the book than just the mystery of her mother's love life. Her father also repeated a story about the late Marquess of Easterbrook which suggests that he may have had his wife's lover killed. The younger brother of the current Marquess, Elliot Rothwell, wants to stop publication of the book, or at least that section, and so goes to Naples to try to persuade or buy off Phaedra Blair. When he meets her, however, he has to rescue her from some social trouble but soon finds himself in more trouble. Phaedra's unconcern for the requirements of society mean that she is often misunderstood and she also comes across as a very prickly woman obsessed with independence from men, even as she knows she might actually be missing out.
What's excellent about this book is the setting in Naples and in a small village on the way to Vesuvius. The descriptions of travel, life, the colours and smells of the Italian countryside are wonderful. We meet many different characters, all described well and believable, as Phaedra finds herself amongst a circle of people of which her mother was a part. The final quarter of the book moves back to London but it's always a great read with Phaedra beginning to understand more about her mother's principles and also about how other people see relationships and marriage, not as a cage or trap but as security and safety. Elliot is a great hero and although Phaedra sometimes seems rather annoying she feels like a real person who is trying to learn from her mother's life but also to understand the way that others think.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007
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