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| IN LUCIA'S EYES |
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| IN LUCIA’S EYES by Arthur Japin: |
| | | UK: Chatto; US: Knopf; Brazil: Companhia das Letras; Albania: Skanderbeg; Bulgaria: Letera; Czech: Paseka; Denmark: Tiderne Skifter; Estonia: Ilo; France: Heloise d’Ormesson; Germany: Schöffling/Diana; Greece: Ellinika Grammata; Hungary: Europa; Israel: Keter; Italy: Bompiani; Poland: Proszynski; Portugal: Teorema; Romania: Humanitas; Russia: Mir; Serbia: Laguna; Spain: Roca |
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| Reviews |
| | “Enthralling . . . Packed with the color of 18th-century life . . . A complex examination of thwarted love . . . A marvelous reversal of hunter and prey, with a soupcon of Dangerous Liaisons . . . Lucia’s slightly arch voice throbs with as much searching intelligence as sexual passion . . . What makes In Lucia’s Eyes so fascinating is its melding of disparate veins: It’s a painful story that arrives at profound insights about the nature of love, but it’s spiked with bodice-ripper suspense and humor; it’s an intensely private testimony of one woman’s peculiar survival, but it’s laced with a fascinating survey of 18th-century intellectual history. Brace yourself with all the skepticism you want, you’ll still be seduced.”
–Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World“An irrisistible subject . . . Lucia is a prostitute with a 24-karat intellect. By the end of a novel that consistently pits reason against emotion, she has found the means to satisfy each.”
–Kathryn Harrison, New York Times Book Review “Japin has done his historical homework . . . A mesmerizing look into a Europe of long ago.”
–Condé Nast Traveler “A dark intrigue . . . Vivid . . . Startlingly poignant . . . unfolding in intricately plotted flashbacks and divan-rattling love scenes . . . Through Lucia, we’re able to discern firsthand the secrets of Casanova’s success.”
–Megan O’Grady, Vogue "Inspired by a character in Giacomo Casanova's History of My Life–a once beautiful girl disfigured by small pox whom the great seducer meets again in the brothels of Amsterdam–Arthur Japin spins an enthralling tale on the mystery of first love and its endurance in the face of a lifetime of hardships."
–Andrea Di Robilant, author of A Venetian Affair "To see the world through Lucia's eyes is to see it in the fullness of wonders and dangers most never notice."
–Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist
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| Book Description |
| | Amsterdam 1758, and a man is artfully seducing a woman. He is, to all appearances, Monsieur le Chevalier de Seingalt, a French government envoy selling shares to the Dutch; she is a courtesan, wellknown in Amsterdam for the fact that she never removes her veil. He sets her a challenge: if she can find a woman who has suffered after falling in love with him, she is entitled to resist his charms; if not, she should succumb. What Seingalt doesn't know is that he has already met the veiled woman many years ago, in another life. What Lucia doesn’t know is that Seingalt will go down in history as one of
the world’s greatest lovers, Casanova. The inspiration for this perfectly plotted, wonderfully romantic historical novel lies in Casanova’s memoirs, and a tiny reference to the woman he fell in love with at seventeen, but later met, hideously disfigured, in an Amsterdam brothel. Arthur Japin has expanded this anecdote into a deliciously entertaining and moving story of innocence and experience, love and sacrifice - all seen through eyes of the woman who first broke Casanova’s heart. His cunning narrative takes the reader on an entrancing journey from the canals of Amsterdam to those of Venice, painting a glorious portrait of the eighteenth century with all its contradictions of reason and instinct, wit and sensuality, head and heart.
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