The Temptress: The scandalous life of Alice, Countess de Janzé - Couverture rigide

Spicer, Paul

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1847377823 ISBN 13 : 9781847377821

Editeur : Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2010

Synopsis

Rare Book

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

'Alice de Janze was the true soul of Happy Valley - beautiful, irresistible, adventurous, fatally stranded in a remote landscape. Spicer has brought an extraordinary character out of the shadows.'
James Fox, author of White Mischief
“In Paul Spicer the notorious American expatriate and radiant beauty Alice de Janzé has finally met her match. Like Byron, she was "mad, bad and dangerous to know", one of those Pilgrim Daughters who traveled abroad and enriched the European aristocracy, becoming a social celebrity in Paris during the early 1920s. With the dedication and zest of a private detective, Paul Spicer pursues her into the ironically-named "Happy Valley" of equatorial East Africa where her melodramatic life ended in violence and tragedy. She appears like one of those extreme characters from the pages of Evelyn Waugh and Scott Fitzgerald. But, as Paul Spicer shows, truth is once again stranger than fiction.” —Michael Holroyd, author of A Strange Eventful History
'Deliciously salacious'
Vogue June issue

‘Entertainingly told’
The Spectator 15/05

‘Any remake of the film White Mischief could no longer get away with featuring Alice de Janze as a bit-part player’
Daily Mail

‘A delicious story’
Daily Telegraph

‘A Bold Story’
Sunday Times

‘The author knows his business’
Tatler June Issue

‘Defective fiction meets biography to hypnotic effect’
Easy Living June Issue
‘The Temptress is a page-turner...a first-rate story’
Mail on Sunday 30/5
‘Paul Spicer’s new book The Temptress reveals a new theory as to the true identity of Lord Erroll’s murderer’
Lady 8/6
`Defective fiction meets biography to hypnotic effect' Easy Living
`The Temptress is a page-turner . . . a first-rate story' Mail on Sunday
'In Paul Spicer, the notorious American expatriate and radiant beauty Alice de Janze has finally met her match. Like Byron she was "mad, bad and dangerous to know", one of those Pilgrim Daughters who travelled abroad and enriched the European aristocracy, becoming a social celebrity in Paris during the early 1920s.
With the dedication and zest of a private detective, Paul Spicer pursues her into the ironically named "Happy Valley" of equatorial East Africa, where her melodramatic life ended in violence and tragedy. She appears like one of those extreme characters from the pags of Evelyn Waugh and Scott Fitzgerald. But, as Paul Spicer shows, truth is agin stranger than fiction'
Michael Holroyd

Présentation de l'éditeur

In Kenya's 'Happy Valley' in the years spanning the 1920s to the 1940s no one paid too much attention to the privileged colonial set as they farmed their estates, partied until dawn and indulged in extra-marital affairs. Not until Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was shot dead at the wheel of his Buick in the early hours of 24 January 1941. Some said the good-looking womaniser had it coming. He was a philanderer who could have had any number of enemies among cuckolded husbands who wanted revenge. Ageing Jock Delves Broughton stood trial for Erroll's murder but was acquitted and the mystery remained unsolved - until now.
American heiress Alice de Janzé had been conducting a clandestine affair with Joss for years. Married into French aristocracy, her stunning beauty was to prove a fatal lure to men of adventure. Previously tried by a French court for shooting one of her lovers, scandal followed her wherever she went.
She arrived in Kenya as a newly married Countess in the 1920s, but by 1941 she had turned forty and the years of partying had taken their toll. Pushed aside by Erroll for younger lovers, and increasingly isolated, Alice threw herself into an act of desperation, resulting in his murder and her own tragic demise. The Temptress not only solves the mystery of Josslyn Hay's murder with the utmost conviction - it eloquently paints a portrait of a volatile, captivating woman.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1847377823
• ISBN 13: 9781847377821
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 320