... what etiquette exists for an androgynous novelist paying a visit to the escaped convict she’s hosting at her lover’s request... [p. 205]
Second in the series that began with The Scandalous Letters of V and J (which I really should have reread before starting this): it's the story of Delphine, in love with scandalous androgynous novelist Camille Dupin ... and also with the father of her child, Ari, who vanished mysteriously before she could break the news of her pregnancy. Delphine is married to an abusive husband, but after his death she's free to be with Camille. And then Ari returns...
This is a polyamorous romance, and a magical adventure set in a nineteenth-century France where magical artifacts are collectors' items, and at least two characters seem to have discovered, if not immortality, at least extremely long life. It's told almost entirely through letters and diaries: Delphine's to Ari, even after his disappearance; Delphine and Camille's correspondence; Ari's melancholy journal. It features Victor and Julie(n) from the previous volume, as well as the mysterious Isabelle and some villainous aristocrats. And it has happy endings for those who deserve them ... though the third volume, which I plan to read soon, will focus on the continuing crisis of the collectors.
The author, in her afterword, describes this trilogy as 'Balzac, but horny and queer and magic': now I'm almost tempted to tackle Balzac...
Read because: I fancied a historical romance with fantasy elements, and remembered how much I'd enjoyed Scandalous Letters... though, as I quickly discovered, I hadn't remembered much of the plot!
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