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Factory of Cunning: A Novel Paperback - 2006
by Philippa Stockley
- Used
- Paperback
Set in late 18th-century England, Stockley's American debut transports readers to the world immortalized in "Dangerous Liaisons."
Description
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Details
- Title Factory of Cunning: A Novel
- Author Philippa Stockley
- Binding Paperback
- Edition [ Edition: First
- Condition Used - Very Good
- Pages 368
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Harcourt, New York
- Date 2006-09-05
- Bookseller's Inventory # SOL16734
- ISBN 9780156030670 / 0156030675
- Weight 0.78 lbs (0.35 kg)
- Dimensions 8 x 5.28 x 0.86 in (20.32 x 13.41 x 2.18 cm)
-
Themes
- Sex & Gender: Feminine
- Library of Congress subjects Historical fiction, Revenge
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
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Summary
Set in late eighteenth-century England, Philippa Stockley’s American debut gives us a wickedly delightful but deadly serious battle of the wills and the sexes. It begins with the arrival in London of the mysterious Mrs. Foxon the run from a scandalous French pastwho takes a new identity, determined to reinvent herself. She must pit her formidable skills for revenge against Earl Much, a British aristocrat with no less notorious a past and easily her match in sinfulness and intrigue. Between these two swirls a story featuring venal lords, wronged maidens, and reprobate clergymen, transporting readers from bawdy houses to country estatesplaces where the pleasures of the flesh are both high comedy and serious business.
A Factory of Cunning takes readers to the world immortalized in Dangerous Liaisons. And, like Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White, the vividly rendered setting and characters give the thrill of a fresh discovery.
First line
If I ever travel to a strange country again it will in a straight-sided box.
From the rear cover
"A squelchingly well-researched period piece with sex, lust, overripeness and what one character calls the 'odour' of the scholar permeating every paragraph. It is also . . . a remarkable tour de force, jampacked with poetry, verbal fireworks, vitality and charm."--The Spectator [UK]
"The pages of this unscrupulous story are lined with lace, silk and muslin -- all of it stitched together in a fabric of shimmering deceit."-- The Washington Post Book World
In this elaborate and finely woven novel set in 18th Century London, Mrs. Fox, a French noblewoman with a scandalous past, squares off against Earl Much, a debauched British aristocrat, in a battle of will and deceit that will claim many casualties along the way.Intent on improving her station in Georgian society, Mrs. Fox trades upon her considerable powers of wit and seduction in order toprofit from theappetites of men. Her rival, however, is a crafty and resourceful man who has devoted his life to collecting priceless objects and ruining young women, and he will not be so easily beaten. Reminiscent of the world brought to life in Dangerous Liaisons, A Factory of Cunning is seductive, calculating, and thoroughly entertaining.
Philippa Stockley studied English at Oxford and period costume history at the Courtauld Institute. She produced her first illustrated novel at six and her first stage design at ten. A professional painter and designer, as well as an editor at the Evening Standard, she lives in London.
"The pages of this unscrupulous story are lined with lace, silk and muslin -- all of it stitched together in a fabric of shimmering deceit."-- The Washington Post Book World
In this elaborate and finely woven novel set in 18th Century London, Mrs. Fox, a French noblewoman with a scandalous past, squares off against Earl Much, a debauched British aristocrat, in a battle of will and deceit that will claim many casualties along the way.Intent on improving her station in Georgian society, Mrs. Fox trades upon her considerable powers of wit and seduction in order toprofit from theappetites of men. Her rival, however, is a crafty and resourceful man who has devoted his life to collecting priceless objects and ruining young women, and he will not be so easily beaten. Reminiscent of the world brought to life in Dangerous Liaisons, A Factory of Cunning is seductive, calculating, and thoroughly entertaining.
Philippa Stockley studied English at Oxford and period costume history at the Courtauld Institute. She produced her first illustrated novel at six and her first stage design at ten. A professional painter and designer, as well as an editor at the Evening Standard, she lives in London.
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