Lucy Beresford
Courting Casanova
In Lucia’s Eyes
By Arthur Japin (Translated by David Colmer)
(Chatto & Windus 247pp £12.99)
Fact as fiction is very much in vogue, and, whilst Mark Lawson waspishly dissects the dying days of the Wilson government in his latest novel Enough is Enough, and Channel 4 explores the apparent suicide of David Kelly, it’s refreshing to see the eighteenth century enjoying similar treatment.
Lucy Jamieson really existed and was buried in a New York churchyard in 1802. She also merited a few pages in Giacomo Casanova’s memoirs for having been one of only two women he ever wronged. Japin’s well-researched novel, friskily translated from the Dutch by David Colmer, offers an intriguing conceit
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Under its longest-serving editor, Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair was that rare thing – a New York society magazine that published serious journalism.
@PeterPeteryork looks at what Carter got right.
Peter York - Deluxe Editions
Peter York: Deluxe Editions - When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter
literaryreview.co.uk
Henry James returned to America in 1904 with three objectives: to see his brother William, to deliver a series of lectures on Balzac, and to gather material for a pair of books about modern America.
Peter Rose follows James out west.
Peter Rose - The Restless Analyst
Peter Rose: The Restless Analyst - Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age by Peter Brooks...
literaryreview.co.uk
Vladimir Putin served his apprenticeship in the KGB toward the end of the Cold War, a period during which Western societies were infiltrated by so-called 'illegals'.
Piers Brendon examines how the culture of Soviet spycraft shaped his thinking.
Piers Brendon - Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll
Piers Brendon: Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll - The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West by Shaun Walker
literaryreview.co.uk