Its all here in one edition: Lucia, Mapp, Georgy... the whole crew. No need to keep track of six different books. In addition, included is the rarely published "The Male Impersonator". Warning: this is vintage stuff and is as additive as chocolate covered cherries on a rainy English afternoon. Once you've met Benson's Lucia, you will know, for sure, the one in your very own circle. This is the crowning glory of the very under-rated E.F. Benson.

Like an English provincial "Finnegan's Wake", the minute you finish it all you really must go back and start all over again. Phooney on the Ab-Fab girls. Lucia reigns supreme and Benson is her prophet.

I have waited a very, very long time to review this complete set of E.F. Benson's "Lucia" novels, as I knew I would not be able to do justice to this masterpiece. The characters, whom you must meet for yourself, are the marvously portrayed gentry of gentle, presumably peaceful hamlets just a short train ride away from London. There they attempt to scratch and claw their way to the top of the limited society in which they live. There is no violence or evil here, just hilarious fun as one tries to outdo the other in becoming the reigning monarch of the town's "royal family". Nobody, but nobody, does this better than Lucia. Whether she is stealing Daisy's Guru or attempting to take credit for introducing "spiritualism" to her subjects, she does it unashamedly and with aplomb! Whether she is reigning in Riseholme, unabashedly social climbing in London, or beseiging the Town of Tilling, she does it with a sense of purpose. Her life is a contest, one she refuses to lose. Winner take all, and woe to those who would oppose her! She is musical, she is magical, she is marvelous, she is LUCIA! I own several copies of this book, lest one is ever lost. I cannot imagine life without a copy nearby. There are some books from which the characters leap from the pages. This is one of those books, with a difference. This is a book into which you will want to leap! Make no mistake, once you have read "Lucia" you will be as much her prisoner as the citizenry of the towns in which she lives and rules. You will become a true "Luciaphile" and will search for others who are also so afflicted. Lucia's world is my safe haven; my escape from the mundane, the frightening and the stress of the world in which I live. It can become the same for you. This is a book you may well bequeath in your will as a cherished family heirloom. I told you I could not do it justice and I have not. Read "Lucia". You will thank E.F. Benson for his malicious, wicked, marvelous wit and the talent to share it through his novels for the rest of your life.

This book has a permanent home with me wherever I go because I return to it whenever I am at a loss for something to read. I have only to pick it up and I am quickly transported to the world of Tilling and all the hilarious escapades of its residents. I love these characters!

Once again Ms. Mosley has submitted for public consumption a fascinating collection. The letters that flew back and forth between these two literary giants are sparkling, witty, nasty and fabulous. They shed light on a glorious world of nobility and debauchery. Their correspondence fixes in my mind the fact that Nancy Mitford is the greatest mind of this century. Genius! Sheer genius!

Brava, Ms. Mosley, brava!

Poor Evelyn (talented, grumpy, constantly worrying about money) writes to lovely Nancy (talented, cheerful, constantly worrying about her Colonel) about real or imagined slights. Nancy charmingly takes him down a few notches when he deserves it (sometimes he's a bit of a bully). It is a joy to read the letters, even the squabbles (but especially the gossip - I'll never think of Graham Greene in quite the same way again). The comfort of old friends. How I shrieked!! (as Nancy would say)

E. F. Benson has created one of the wonders of literature - two characters which you almost cannot like, up against one another - and the outcome makes absolutely wonderful and witty reading. This is the final instalment of the Risenholme/Tilling series. It was published first in 1939 and Benson died a year later.

Definitely trouble for Lucia, - trouble in the form of Miss Mapp-Flint predominantly - but also Lucia's overweening ego. Having moved from Riseholme to Miss Mapp's stomping ground of Tilling, Lucia has a rival she must really battle. Daisy Quantock of Risenholme is nothing to Miss Mapp (now of course Mrs Mapp-Flint). Of course Lucia moved to Tilling some time before, bringing Georgie with her - we saw her progress in the two previous novels - however the joke never seems to fade.

Lucia is still practising her false Italian, and her pseudo artistic pursuits - however this time she is mayor of Tilling. All venom is sugar coated and presented with perfectly in place smiles, and it all takes place in the tiny confines of Tilling. Although the deserving poor are mentioned it seems the whole village of Tilling revolves around a small cast of wonderfully drawn characters - Lucia and her now husband Georgie, Colonel and Mrs Mapp-Flint, Mr and Mrs Wyse, the Vicar and his mousie wife, Diva and 'quaint Irene'. No other characters really have anything to say - they might pass in and out of the action such as Foljambe (Georgies indispensible maid) and various town councillors - but they are never crowded into the scene.

The crises tend to be small - but the village is small so they become larger than life and the repercussions are hilarious - There is bridge to be played - and when Lucia decides that, as mayor she must set an example and not gamble for money she finds there are few supporters. Lucia must wangle her way out of a party which includes Italian speakers, and wangle her way _into_ an invitation to stay the night with a Duchess. There is the terrible irony of the unflattering portrait of Mrs Mapp-Flint which goes on to win picture of the year in London to be dealt with - and then there is the mystery (for the village anyway) of Colonel Mapp-Flint's missing crop - the one which he hit the tiger with across the nose before shooting it. Most marvellously there is the resolution of the unfortunate death of Blue Birdie, Susan Wyse's much beloved Budgerigaar. And while much of this might sound familiar from other Lucia novels, they are as freshly drawn as ever.

E F Benson doesn't bother with suspense for his readers - we always know where the riding crop is - or who Lucia will select as her mayoress - the joy of these novels is finding out _how_ this will happen. Things which begin in a chapter early on, might not reach their conclusion until near the end of the book.

It is such a pity the Lucia's ended here -there seems so much room to continue the shenanigans in Tilling, especially with all the promise of the war years. If you haven't read a Lucia before - start at the beginning with Queen Lucia and work your way through them. They only really make proper sense in order as there are characters and activities which cast right back to the first novel which won't really be amusing unless you have read them in order.

Having worn mayoral robes himself, it is not surprising that writer E F Benson should have allowed readers of his Lucia novels to see how that scheming, contriving, arch social climbing lady would do the same when elected as the first lady mayor of the quaint village of Tilling. As the book’s title suggests, donning the mayoral robes brings trouble for Lucia. She foresees that most of it is likely to derive from her arch rival for supremacy in local affairs, Miss Mapp. Accordingly she decides to make Elizabeth Mapp her mayoress. “It is far better to have her on a lead, bound to me by ties of gratitude that skulking about like a pariah dog, snapping at me,” she tells her husband, Georgie Pillson.

Of course the dog lead soon becomes more like the rope in a tug of war as the two rivals strive to topple each other. Reading an account of the tension, in this the last of the Mapp and Lucia books, provides you with some of the best humour in English literature of the 1930s.

This is the first book I've read in E.F. Benson's "Lucia" series, and it is fun-filled ride indeed. For Benson novices, Lucia Lucas is a middle aged, recently widowed (in this novel), perfectly nice upper middle class woman who just happens to have the mind of Machavelli. Missing her obvious calling for World Domination, she is instead content to rule the social life of her small English village with an iron fist. As "Mapp and Lucia" begins however, Lucia has long since deposed any serious threat to her social dominance in her immediate vicinity, and decides fresher pastures are in order. She packs up her things (including , of course, best friend and right-hand-man Georgie) and moves to Tilling, where she expects she will be made society Queen in no time flat. Unfortunately for Lucia, Tilling already has a Queen, one Elizabeth Mapp, and she has no intention of relinquishing her crown.

The scene is thus set for a true Battle Royal, only in Tilling the battelfields are luncheons and dinner parties, and the weapons fruit gardens and lobster recipes. The results are very very funny, as the genteel of Tilling spend a breathless year thoroughly enjoying each swipe, snub and put down. The hilarious climax has our heroines floating out to sea on an overturned kitchen table, with Lucia's last audible words promising delicious gossip just as soon as she gets out of her current mess.

Benson draws his characters exquisitely well, I found myself flat out liking her. She is an Englishwomen of the 1930's, past her prime but still youthful, who just happens to be blessed (cursed?) with the personality of an Alpha Male. The resulting battle of wits with the formidable Mapp is fascinating; Mapp is clearly not her intellectual equal but through a mixture of deviousness and and cunning manages to pull the carpet from underneath Lucia's carefully laid plans time and again. The supporting characters are equally well written, with best friend Georgie and Mapp's crony Diva especially amusing.

All in all, a funny, entertaining and biting satire that is well worth reading whether you are already a Lucia fan or are picking up a Benson novel for the first time. Highly recommended!

This popular tale is a delight even 70 years later. The reader gets to know very well the primary characters in this social comedy. Benson does a superb job of describing the genteel battles between the two ladies in Tilling,concerning Lucia's much coveted lobster recipe, and invitations to dine. The men are, of course, secondary to the plot.They hover around the ladies like courtiers. I think that Georgie, Lucia's devoted and platonic friend, is my favorite character-perhaps the most genuinely nice person in the book. I sometimes even feel sorry for Miss Mapp when Lucia takes over social affairs so thoroughly! I wonder what would happen if Lucia and Miss Mapp were both interested in Major Benjy!

This is the highlight of the series, pitting Lucia against her less able, but equally ruthless counterpart, Elizabeth Mapp - two ladies who both consider themselves social queens of the village of Tilling. The ensuing war includes Fete's garden parties dinner parties and climaxes with the crafty Miss Mapp attempting to steal the recipe for Lobster ala Reisholme and being caught by Lucia, they are then caught in a flood and whisked out to sea on a kitchen table. Oh my!

This pair of novels certainly don't exude coldness, in any way. They represent the 'autobiographical' novels of Nancy Mitford, and she spins her tales in a very warm and hysterically funny manner, demonstrating her unique skills as a novelist in a period when men tended to dominate the best-sellers lists. A contemporary of writers such as Waugh, Huxley, Greene, and other important names in the 'canon' of twentieth-century literature, Mitford's novels are far too often neglected. Which is a shame, as her richly coloured fictional tapestries reveal a great deal about the lives of the upper-classes, and from a genuinely humourous standpoint.

These novels will be enjoyed by readers who like the light social novels of Wodehouse, and more importantly, those of Evelyn Waugh. Waugh and Mitford were very close friends, and in his later years, Mitford was Waugh's primary object of correspondance, and their letters have since been collected and compiled in a single edition. Waugh's influence on Mitford is obvious - as her work is indeed in the same satiric vein as much of his - but less obvious and more intriguing is her influence on his work. Mitford's sharpness and quickness rival that of Waugh, and in these novels she almost outshines him, in the warmth and jollity of her satire.

I'm not sure why I avoided reading Mitford all these years - she is definitely one of the heirs to Jane Austen's crown - Mitford's writing is plain laugh-out-loud funny.

In "Pursuit of Love' we are introduced to the narrator of the book - Fanny whose mother, the bolter, has deserted her and she is bought up by her aunts - one of whom Aunt Sadie has a family of 7 children and a husband - all of whom display varying degrees of genteel eccentricity. Uncle Matthew hunts his children across the countryside when there are no foxes to be found. There is also the revered placing of the entrenching-tool in a prominent place in the house - Uncle Matthew used this rather obscure instrument to dispatch 8 Germans in the Great War and it is given a great deal more respect now than an entrenching tool might otherwise expect. But this story is mostly about the immensely charming but languid Linda - closest in age to Fanny and pathologically incapable of doing anything useful from tying her own stock to making her own bed. Her marriages seem to reflect the tenor of the times - from first falling for and marrying the wealthy but relentlessy middle-class (and therefore dull) Tony. Escaping him she is dragged into the meaningful world of born-again communism by Christian - another child of the upper-classes. Finally she meets Fabrice - Frenchman and Resistance Fighter in the second world war.

This book is set in the 1930's and early 40's and is a wonderful commentary on class at the time. It is said that it is in some ways autobiographical, and from what little I have heard of Nancy Mitford's life I can well believe it. It is so light, enjoyable and wonderfully wicked - one of the few novels where I actually laughed out-loud. It is written with a light-hand, and such benevolent eccentricity. A book to be thoroughly enjoyed.

These are 2 delightful satires on the social life of the well-to-do English of the '30s and '40s. In PURSUIT Linda Radlett, brightest star in an unconventional upper class British family (based upon the author's own family), is hardly an admirable person. She is capable of saying cattily about her sister's older fiance, "Poor old thing, I suppose she likes him, but, I must say, if he was one's dog, one would have him put down." And she callously remarks about her own unloved baby, who is wailing, "Poor soul, I think it must have caught sight of itself in the glass."And yet she is a fascinating creature who somehow retains the reader's sympathy as she endures marriage to the ambitious scion of a dull banking family, struggles to adapt to life with a zealous communist lover, and at last finds true love with a worldly Frenchman, just as World War 2 is closing in upon them.Nancy Mitford's witty style captures perfectly the ambience of English social life during the '30s and into the early war years. However, the sharp, brittle satire does not disguise the author's affection for her family of fallible characters.In COLD CLIMATE Polly Hampton is a hypnotizingly beautiful woman, but to the dismay of her parents, she shows no interest in love or marriage--until she suddenly overwhelms a very recently widowed older kinsman (who is rumored to have been a lover of her own mother). Her parents, alienated from their only child by this unsuitable match, are now ready to meet their nearest male heir, Cedric Hampton (lately of Nova Scotia, now of Paris), who turns out to be a very handsome, but obviously gay, charmer, who transforms their lives. When a disillusioned Polly returns to England with her unhappy husband, an unusual, but not totally surprising, triangle ensues.Mitford's satiric skills are at their best in this sparkling novel. Especially effective are the characterizations of the blunt, self-centered Lady Montdore (Polly's mother), and the effeminate aesthete, Cedric. Lady Montdore's comforting words at the death of Polly's newborn baby: "I expect it was just as well. Children are such an awful expense nowadays." Such is the lady's habitual behavior, her daughter seems unmoved and hardly surprised at this remark. Narrator Fanny Logan Wincham and the Radlett family, from the earlier novel, also play an important part here.

I prefer Lucia in the country, though it is fun to see her get her comeuppance so regularly. Using her best social-climbing instincts and refusing to be embarrassed, Lucia sets out to conquer London and mingle with the beau monde. Soon a secret group of "Luciaphiles" springs up; the social climbers who make up its rank never tire of watching her get into and out of all kinds of trouble.

Continuing the extraordinary adventures of Lucia, Benson's delightful story is full of the gossip and social-climbing one comes to expect of Lucia. Peppino, Lucia's husband, inherits a fortune and a house in London after the death of his aunt. Lucia has been the queen of all of Riseholme for ages, with her court including her best friend Georgie, an eternal bachelor who embroiders. When she ascends to London, Riseholme is bereft and feeling slighted, but soon they plot their revenge. Unfortunately for them, Lucia conquers London's high society and overcomes all obstacles in her path to greatness. But can Lucia keep up the pace of London society? And does she plan to desert her beloved Riseholme forever? The Lucia series, beginning with "Queen Lucia", is a delicious concoction of maliciousness and snobbery that will convert any reader.

This is the ultimate book for social climbers everywhere - Lucia the Queen of the tiny town of Riseholm goes to London and takes the town by storm.

This is such a brilliant story - absolutely hilarious - full of the beauty of social sycophancy and insincerity. Everyone knowing what is going on except Lucia who is (almost always) triumphant.

When Lucia's husband's aunt dies they are left with a house in London (and when the news is received in Risehome much calculation is doneby everyone based on no real facts at all.) It is up to Lucia's sidekick, Georgie, to wheedle the news out of her about the house in London and the income.

Lucia, who has always stated how she loathes London has now (very reluctantly you understand) decided to go to London for the season. Her departure from Riseholme however has a number of effects - the first being the power vacuum in Riseholme itself, and secondly she really does end up taking London by storm. Even the most vague of acquaintances of hers are treated as close bosom friends and called by their first names and name dropped shamelessly by her everywhere. This goes on till there is a firm group of Luciaphils in London who are so astonished and appreciative of her powers as the Queen of Social climbing that they establish an informal club to help her and to admire her mastery at work.

In Riseholme life does not go on without Lucia, it goes on firmly DESPITE her - everyone is determined to make a success of their village in her absence to show how much she is not at all needed there. There is the museum to establish,and then Daisy Quantock has helped them all discover the Ouija Board and the powerful spirit Guide (Abfou). They spend a great deal of time 'weedj-ing' for signs of what to do next.

If you haven't discovered Lucia novels yet, you must - Benson writes wonderful sardonic stories full of the small, pettiness of village life and its power struggles. This is wonderful light, laugh out loud stuff.

Halfway through his Lucia series, Benson, probably realizing what a tedious phoney Mrs. Emmeline Lucas was turning out to be, decided to fashion a worthy adversary for her: a formidable old fadge named Miss Mapp. This required a change of venue, as well: from Olde Englysh Riseholm to the seacoast hamlet of Tilling. It's an inspired move (possibly due to Lucia's conspicuous absence; she does not lock horns with Mapp until the next book, Mapp & Lucia). Benson dissects a small sector of the British upper-middle class -- monied drones -- with such surgical skill that it's like sitting down to a strawberry high tea. From Major Benjy to Diva Plaistow and Barbara ("I think we can all squeeze into the Royce") Wyse, O.B.E, these self-infatuated twits spin out their days doddering from bridge game to garden party, from fad to diversion, all deliriously anxious about their place in the town's, and the Empire's, pecking order. This is a trival subject treated as drily and wittily as one could hope for, and written as the sun began to set on England's ambitions and literary heritage. Biographical note: Benson bought Henry James's house in Rye (the model for Tilling), and when showing it to visitors used to announce, "This is Miss Mapp's garden room. And I am Miss Mapp."

E.F. Benson's books are as fresh and fun today as they were in the onset. We may not have sleepy little burgs with bridge parties being the height of the social warfare battleground, but we still have those hilarious people who can scheme and plot their way, unwitting of the itelligence of others, to what they see as the pinnacle of society. When Lucia meets her nemisis in Miss Mapp and moves into Miss Mapp's "territory" feathers fly, society scrambles, and their world rocks. I recommend this book, for if we don't see ourselves we will at least see some hilarious friends.

The first Tilling rather than Riseholme novel sets things up for the tremendous clash with Lucia. It is extremely funny and bears re-reading and re-reading. Especially the sudden appearance of a lot of dried apricots in the middle of a bridge party. Tilling is the English seaside town of Rye (not a hamlet) . The characters include Susan Wyse (not Barbara)and the legendary busybody Miss Mapp herself . Miss Mapps are all too present in the year 2000 -Buy it

Queen Lucia is the first in the series of novels that invite us in to Riseholm and the lives of it's residents. Lucia is the snobbish self appointed but undisputed Queen of everything cultural in this small rural english village. However she finds herself challenged unintentionally by Olga Bracely a famous opera singer who takes up residence in the village. As she fights for her throne the reader is witness to the malice, manipulation and backstabbing that is just under the surface in village life. As in all good stories Lucia is all but dethrowned and then regains the upper hand once again. The book is witty, full of interesting if somewhat strange characters and entertaining. After first reading Queen Lucia I felt a little disapointed having heard Bentley described as being on a par with Wilde, Wodehouse and Coward. I do not find this claimed level of wit and word smithing in Queen Lucia myself, however once I got past this disappointment I found myself both entertained by and fond of this novel.

And the other 2 are also by Benson ... well, tied with Toole's "Confedearcy of Dunces" and Keenan's "Blue Heaven."

There's a slow start with the first chapter--Benson's humour is entirely character-based, so you needs must meet the character before the jokes can begin--but once they begin, they don't let up.

Luckily (because you'll want more, more more after this book) there are others in the series. This first book sets the pattern: wealthy, intellectually-pretentious, English housewife Lucia wants to be thought of as the exemplar of good/interesting taste, and will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. The characters are all frightfully interested in the most trivial things, and it's screamingly funny.

If you like Benson, try Beverley Nichols (oh, and do read the other two funniest novels ever written, mentioned above--you owe it to yourself.)

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

If you can imagine TV's Aaron Spelling writing his brand of witty and campy fun in an English town in the 1920s & 30s, then you can imagine Benson's Lucia series. I'd often heard how great the series was, and finally got around to reading the first book. What a delight! It's been ages since I've read a book that simply glided off the page. Lucia is the center of Riseholme's cultural life, and without her, life just couldn't be the same, right? With her husband Peppino, and her sidekick Georgie (so repressed he's nearly an origami flamingo), Lucia controls the fads and fashions of Riseholme. When a diva opera singer moves into town, Lucia finds herself knocked off her throne, and all but declares war on the upstart. Full of devious gossip and fascinating characters, this story is wonderfully enjoyable, as well as incredibly intelligent in its rendering of small town life. I can hardly wait to read the entire series, or see the "Mapp and Lucia" miniseries.

Nancy Mitford is not so much a historian as a gossip. She loves using words like delicious or delightful that more scholarly types would eschew. But her histories are delicious, full of little details of dress and deportment, disapproving profiles of people who weren't much fun. She forgives the extravagant Sun King for and his heirs for bankrupting France because they did it with exquisite style and taste. Although I want to disapprove of Nancy's chats on the basis of their casualness and fawning over the rich and lovely, I just cannot help loving them. As she so often said, "Oh, admit!" I do.

Here's "Lifestyles of the Obscenely Wealthy and Powerful"! I admit I'd never read much about this period of history (I'm fond of joking that my in-depth knowledge of politics and history more or less ends with Elizabeth I's death), but the bit I read at the bookstore made this book irresistible. I passed up an Alison Weir for this, but I don't regret the choice at all. It is both charming and knowledgable, with a witty, personable, almost gossipy tone.

There's a lot of information here, packaged with lots of pictures and glossy pages. It is a lovely book to look at purely on an aesthetic level. But do take the time to actually read it! Though sparse in areas, it is a rich look at the life of Louis, and at the lifestyle of a courtier of his day. The creation of Versailles is gone into in much detail, as are sexual politics and wartime attitudes. Mostly this focuses on Louis' personal life and that of his court and how Versailles came about, so there isn't much here about actual wars or about international politics. But what there is is just stupendous. I'd call this a must-have for a beginner in French history. I'm very glad I got it.

Nancy Mitford came to me by way of this book and, ignorant of the incredible talents that lie with her, her sisters and the aristocratic family into which she was born. Since then, I have devoured Nancy's fiction, her personal history and I have much more to learn. However, it is her talents as a biographer and historian, perhaps best exemplified with this book, that I believe she achieves the realization of her greatest gift; that is to send life into the dead hand of history. In "The Sun King" history comes alive as I have truly never experienced. Here is a book that takes heretofore one dimensional characters and fills their frames with humanity, giving them dimemsionality, life. She uncovers the perspective that sheds light on each characters good and bad side, turning Louis XIV, Monsieur, The King's wives, his children, in fact the whole of the court at Versailles into a vision in one's head that makes it easy to understand why the Ancien Regime in France can still provide relevance to a contemporary world that approximates it so little. Relevance and topic interest, to be sure, is the most amazing feat for a historian to achieve. Nancy Mitford with "The Sun King" stands among rarified company in such an achievement.

Nancy Mitford was a brilliant writer, and the bedrock of virtually all her works - even the histories - was satire. And, true to the first law of all satirists, she takes no prisoners, even in dealing with such luminaries as Voltaire and his lover, Mme du Chatelet. From the very start, for instance, she tells us that Voltaire rarely had any original thoughts: his true genius was in his turn of phrase. In fact, to Mme du Chatelet's great embarassment, he was likely impotent, was virtually banished from Versailles, flirted outrageously with the openly gay King Frederick of Prussia and, later, developed an infatuation for his own niece.

Mme du Chatelet does rather better in Mitford's estimation - she is portrayed as a gifted scientist and an independently important literary figure - but as a lover, she too is deeply flawed. Time and again, she drove Voltaire close to bankruptcy with her gambling debts. And her premature death was brought on by childbirth - not Voltaire's baby, mind, but those of her "toy boy" lover. Yet it is clear that, for all that, she had met in Voltaire her true life partner, and within their own adulterous union, they tolerated each other's infidelities with good grace.

A classic chronicle of human foibles by an author who is utterly unintimidated by her biographical subjects.

When I set out to write a book, "A Visit From Voltaire" imagining the return of Voltaire to the 21st century, this is the book that hooked me before I moved into the primary sources. And it remains one of the best books to date, despite a few little hitches in her facts, for readability, entertainment and capturing the spirit of Voltaire's middle years. Anybody who reads it will finish with a wonderful understanding of the man's energy, resilience and courage. A must.
Dinah Lee Küng

I couldn't put this book down, and tore through it in a matter of days. Despite being a voracious reader, it's (sadly) seldom that such a book comes along for me. The main draw for me in purchasing this book is being an avid fan of Voltaire. I had wondered just how strongly the "love story" element of the book would play out, as I'd known prior to purchasing this book that all of the intimate correspondence between Voltaire and Emilie has been lost. I'm not a "love story" kind of person, and was hoping this book would provide more of a strong picture into the personalities, foibles, strengths, habits, and routines of Voltaire primarily, and Emilie secondarily. I was not disappointed.

If you count yourself a lover of Voltaire -- the man and his writings -- then this book is truly a must-read for you. I've read much of his essays, philosophy, short stories, et cetera, and finally (to my immense delight) feel I "know" the man.

The personalities and temperaments of both Voltaire and Emilie were rather as I'd figured they would be, although there were a couple of genuine surprises -- some flattering, some not so flattering.

What continues to make me curious is how these two persons defined the word "love"...the dynamics of their relationship and love was interesting, and sometimes confusing, to say the very least. Ah well, I'm speaking of dead persons here. Respect for their personages and for the deceased prohibit me from going further. And besides, after nine years of marriage, I too admit the word "love" has a myriad of nuances.

Please enjoy this book! Ecrasez l'infame!