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History of a Pleasure Seeker

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What to expect

The adventures of adolescence had taught Piet Barol that he was extremely attractive to most women and to many men. He was old enough to be pragmatic about this advantage...'

It is 1907. The belle époque is in full swing. Piet Barol has escaped the drabness of the provinces for the grandest mansion in Amsterdam. As tutor to the son of Europe's wealthiest hotelier, he learns the intimate secrets of this glittering family - and changes it forever. With nothing but his exquisite looks and wit to rely on, he is determined to make a fortune of his own. But in the heady exhilaration of this new world, amid delights and temptations he has only dreamed of, Piet discovers that some of the liaisons he has cultivated are dangerous indeed.

Read by Dan Stevens

(p) 2011 Orion Publishing Group

Critics Review

Rich in period detail and with requisite glittering trappings, it's the sex that is most carefully observed in Mason's lusty romp
Daily Mail
Told with humour, charm, fine attention to detail and a healthy dose of eroticism
Independent on Sunday
Sex is everywhere, both well described and very funny . . . an enthralling, perfectly paced romp that breathes new life into the picaresque genre
Observer
A hugely accomplished novel - the story of Piet Barol, a young, provincial Dutchman and the social and sexual adventures he embarks upon in belle epoque Amsterdam
Independent, 50 Best Summer Reads
Elegant, upholstered and, for all the sex, well-behaved
Times Literary Supplement
A masterpiece. Like Henry James on Viagra. Gripping as hell . . . Piet was wonderfully drawn - rogueish and yet wholly sympathetic
Alex Preston, author of Winchelsea
A sharply written story of love, money and erotic intrigue pulsing behind the staid canal fronts of nineteenth century Amsterdam. Mason's hero is amoral but irresistible. I was gripped till the very last page
Daisy Goodwin, screenwriter and author of The Fortune Hunter
This elegantly plotted and witty tale unfolds in prose that is not just confident, but impressively stylish
The Lady
Piet Barol is a dashing young man of the Belle Epoque who seduces his way into a life of decadence in this fast-paced historical page-turner
Easy Living
Just try to resist . . . A Continental Downton Abbey plus sex, with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons tossed in
Seattle Times
A gorgeous confection. . . . Piet is the rare character - the rare being - whose unfailing charm and luck only make us cheer him on more
The New York Times
This book about pleasure is a provocative joy
O, The Oprah Magazine
Terrific. . . . The best new work of fiction to cross my desk in many moons
Washington Post
Think Balzac but lighter and sexier - an exquisitely laced corset of a novel with a sleek, modern zipper down the side
Marie Claire
Superb. . . . [Mason's] gorgeous, precise descriptions mirror Amsterdam's singular combination of material opulence and Calvinist severity
Wall Street Journal
[An] up-close mix of luxury, labor and longing - plus a country house's-worth of burbling romance
Los Angeles Times
If Charles Dickens and Jane Austen had a love child who grew up reading nothing but Edith Wharton and Penthouse Forum - well, that person might be almost as wry, sexy, and knowing a writer as Richard Mason
Boston Globe
A picaresque novel in the 18th-century tradition of John Cleland's Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure and Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones. . . . Piet is a charmer
Washington Times
Exquisite. . . . A showcase for [Mason's] nimble writing, but also extends his storytelling prowess
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
An elegantly written, sexy novel
The Daily Beast
[An] artful evocation of the European Belle Époque
The New Yorker
Edith Wharton would be impressed. . . . Lovely and rich
Entertainment Weekly
Author Richard Mason
Narrator Dan Stevens
Duration 8 hours and 47 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781409130673
Format Audiobook
Publisher Orion
Genre Modern and contemporary fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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