The Passionate Elopement

About the book

At Curtain Wells, the rhythms of fashionable life seem to obey Beau Ripple's authority as faithfully as the visitors observe their morning visits to the waters. Beneath this polished order, Phyllida Courteen cherishes romantic expectations involving the attractive Vernon, whose private calculations are less innocent than her dreams. Assemblies, masquerades, gossip, and small social rivalries create the setting in which flirtation can become a serious risk. Compton Mackenzie writes with an elaborately playful narrator who directs attention to clothes, gestures, rooms, and the theatrical behavior of the company. The historical romance draws its tension from the mismatch between youthful feeling and a society skilled at turning feeling into display, advantage, or amusement.

• Innocence and calculation
• Fashionable society
• Romantic illusion

Why read it

Visit a richly staged fictional spa where comic observation gradually exposes the vulnerability beneath elegant manners.

English historical romance by Compton Mackenzie