Product Description

Two people meet in a crowded London theatre one night in 1785. They quickly become lovers - and slowly discover that neither is what he/she at first appeared to be. As a spy for the Venetian state, Mimosina trades in dangerous secrets, and Valentine Greatrakes, the mastermind behind London's quacks, in elaborate lies. As Valentine pursues the murderer of his right-hand man, he gets closer to the truth of his lover's background - and both are forced to admit the similarities between the different kinds of contraband they trade in.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #736567 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
For Carnevale: 'Of all the fictional lives of 2002, none is so covetable as that of Cecilia Cornaro' THE TIMES For The Floating Book: 'Breathtaking' MARLENA DE BLASI, author of A Thousand Days in Venice For The VB of Xmas: 'Inside you will find everything that is both magical and miserable about Christmas' Kathryn Hughes, MAIL ON SUNDAY

Mary Laven, author of Virgins of Venice
'A pacy, atmospheric narrative that exposes the dark secrets of Enlightenment Venice and London'

About the Author
Michelle Lovric is the author of two previous novels for Virago and she compiles bestselling anthologies for clients such as Past Times and the British Museum. She divides her time between her converted wharf on the Thames and a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice.

Customer Reviews

Gripping and grimy
This one's even better than 'Carnevale', her last, and just as flavoursome! The action switches between Venice, where a daughter of the aristocratic Venier family is confined to a convent, very much against her will, and London where later Valentine Greatrakes' quack-remedy and 'importing' business is stuck a blow as his partner is killed in Venice. There will be more murders, lies, romance, sex and travel before the plot to this one plays itself out. There's also much vivid description of the streets and low life of the Thames Bankside and dank Venetian canal sides - The Remedy gives good 18th Century Venice and London, with descriptions you can almost taste, and not just of the food. The hint of decadence in the writing and nastiness in the plotting I find much to my taste too. And if you want to know how you can use any peacock dung, faeculae of cuckow and ox galls you might have about the place in remedies and other useful potions this book will tell you, with handy recipes at the start of each chapter. Gripping stuff!

3 1/2 stars: a well written and fairly absorbing read
While still reeling from the brutal murder of his business partner and friend, Valentine Greatrakes goes to the theatre one night, seeking a distraction from his anger and grief. The last thing he expected was to find himself totally consumed with desire for the stage's latest sensation, the Venetian actress, Mimosina Dolcezza. Valentine immediately begins the campaign to make her his mistress. But what Valentine doesn't know is that Mimosina has desires and secrets of her own. Desires that will force him to choose between his longing for her and his obligations to his ward, Pevenche; and secrets that have to do with his dead partner...

Michelle Lovric is a talented writer -- there is no doubt about that. I found myself becoming completely enthralled with the vivid manner in which she described places -- like the cool and dark cells of the convent with it's tree lined gardens; the warm theatre, heavy with the smells of candles and greasepaint; the noisy and odorous slums of London; and the liquid and tantalising brilliance of Venice in the late eighteenth century. And then there were the brilliantly rendered scenes where a very young Mimosina describes the temper tantrum she throws when she realises that her parents mean to incarcerate her in the convent forever. However, in spite of all these wonderfully descriptive paragraphs, "The Remedy" did not completely engage. And that was because I found it difficult to take to any of the characters in this book. Perhaps it is because my usual reading staples are mystery novels where one rather quickly identifies with the sympathetic main character. I didn't find any of the characters -- Mimosina Dolcezza, Valentine Greatrakes or Pevenche very engaging. Mimosina was far too conniving and cold for my taste. I know that we're supposed to feel some sympathy for this woman who had been cruelly used and tricked, but because this character seemed so completely incapable of feeling anything for anyone except herself, and because she spent so much time justifying her actions, I felt quite repelled by her. As for the supposed "hero," Valentine Greatrakes (what a name!), I found him to be completely ineffectual and far too easily led for the supposedly dangerous King of the London underworld; while one actually only gets to "know" Pevenche through the eyes of Mimosina and Valentine -- neither of whom can be considered to be actual pillars of unbiased partiality. We do get brief glimpses of the "real" Pevenche -- the author uses Pevenche's shorter narrations to close each of the four segments of the book. However, while I found Pevenche's matter-of-fact accounting of events refreshingly different and a little more palatable, I still found it difficult to be totally engaged by this character. Perhaps because my opinions were corrupted by Mimosina's and Valentine's points-of-view. On the other hand, in spite of the fact that I didn't take to any of the characters, I still found myself reading "The Remedy" avidly, savouring every description and turn of phrase. And there are some really wonderful bits in this book -- like the entire segment where Mimosina, after escaping her employers, returns to London and lives and works in slums with a couple of conmen. This, I think was the best bit in the book and made for wonderful reading. And while I had more or less begun to suspect who the murderer of Valentine's partner would be, the vivid and chilling manner in which Pevenche relates what she suspects at the end of the book made for good reading too. So that all in all, in spite of my reservations, I would rate "The Remedy" as a well written and very absorbing 3 1/2 star read.

Disappointing and puzzling...

I was fortunate and delighted enough to purchase a signed copy of this book which was a shame, because after a very short while reading, I could not have been more disappointed with it...

First of all, several things did not help this read; periodically, sentences for some reason would appear in 'fancy' italics, which, though attractive visually, as a consequence, were not very legible. These sentences were so frequent, they became both irritating and annoying... Also, the print/type is pretty small in this edition, and another irritating factor was at the beginning of each chapter/section (which are quite short - but due to the small print, may have been longer in reality) are like 'recipes' of a kind, which once again; because of the quality of type used (small and poorly printed) were very difficult to decipher... All these factors could have been viewed as minor irritations had the book proved good, but after having read the first section (the book is done in several 'parts') which was extremely captivating, part two was as if one had just started to read a completely different book at about half way through - I could not make top nor tail of it at all... I even gave it a second go, but simply could not make out any of the characters or dialogue at all, or who was supposed to be who from what I had been reading so happily previously...

From the glowing three reviews I have just read prior to mine, I can only think I am totally stupid, or my copy is missing some pages...

VERY disappointed and puzzled by this novel...

Shame...