Nov 21, 2013
VIPER WINE - Hermione Eyre
This is an historical novel with a twist. Its protagonists are two real historical figures, Sir Kenelm Digby and his wife Venetia. She was widely regarded as the most beautiful woman of her age, and the plot concerns her paranoia that she is losing her looks. Among the remedies she tries is a potent new tonic, Viper Wine.
There are startling and funny anachronisms throughout the text and a brilliant disregard for the conventions of the genre. The jacket design mirrors this with a pop art twist on a Van Dyk painting of Lady Digby (courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery).
Published by Jonathan Cape in March 2014
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