Both a sparkling comedy of manners and a gripping romance, Pride and Prejudice remains one of the best-loved books in the world.
Venetia
Illustrated by Sally Dunne
Introduced by Stephen Fry
Binding design by Jessica Hische
Stephen Fry’s exclusive introduction to this new Folio Society edition lavishes praise on Georgette Heyer’s meticulously researched and deliciously entertaining Regency Romance, Venetia.
£55.00
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‘Heyer’s novels are delicious: meticulously researched, deftly plotted and hugely romantic, but never sentimental’
- Guardian
Georgette Heyer is one of the world’s best-known and best-selling writers of historical romance, and Venetia is the perfect introduction to her work. This edition celebrates Heyer’s witty and clever Regency society novel with a dazzling new introduction by advocate Stephen Fry and six gloriously imagined and insightful illustrations by Sally Dunne. Lettering artist Jessica Hische completes the edition with a beautiful gold-blocked binding design that exudes both the glamour and formality of the period.
While Miss Venetia Lanyon has been whiling away her uneventful but perfectly agreeable life in Yorkshire, her elusive neighbour Jasper Damerel has kept tongues wagging with rumours of his playboy lifestyle. When the dashing cad returns to his estate, Venetia’s head is turned from her two interminable suitors, but she’s more than a match for Damerel’s wily affections and sharp mind.
Bound in cloth blocked with lettering by Jessica Hische
Set in Aria Text
376 pages
Frontispiece plus 5 full-page colour illustrations by Sally Dunne
Printed slipcase with an illustration by Sally Dunne
9½˝ x 6¼˝
‘She is as effective as Patrick O’Brian at depicting the same times but shamefully not as celebrated, because she wrote about women in drawing rooms, not men at war’
- Guardian
For anyone discovering Georgette Heyer for the first time, Stephen Fry’s compelling new introduction expounds on the appeal and importance of her novels. With contemporary writers such as Philippa Gregory and Julia Quinn citing Heyer as an inspiration, she remains not only a pioneer of the Romance genre but also one of the most enduring and influential of historical novelists. This stunning Folio edition is a celebration of Heyer’s literary status and includes six illustrations that portray the characters with incredible sensitivity. Sally Dunne reimagined Christie’s post-war London in our recent edition of Crooked House and the talented artist once again captures the nuances of the narrative, incorporating exquisite period detail, telling glances and body language to accompany the story.
‘An outstanding storyteller’
- The Times Literary Supplement
English novelist Georgette Heyer was a stickler for research and from the first page of this accomplished novel, readers are immersed in the cant, clothing and culture of high society Britain in the short but eminently eventful Regency period. From eating nuncheon to belittling chicken nabobs and pea-geese, the period detail and dialogue are pinpoint accurate, so much so that, according to Stephen Fry, ‘an early nineteenth-century reader could pick up this book, Venetia, and consume it as if it were a creation of their time’. However, Heyer’s phenomenal popularity arises from her ability to elevate historical romance to the realm of literary fiction, placing her novels alongside those of Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen. Subtly subversive, Heyer empowers her protagonist while entertaining her readers, and this brilliantly observed society drama is a must-read for fans of the genre and the era.
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