Новинки Ричарда Мейсона

Впервые на русском — пожалуй, самый громкий дебют в новой британской прозе, шедевр современной неоготики. Роман 19-летнего студента Оксфорда, приобретенный за рекордную сумму на ожесточенном издательском аукционе, был переведен на три десятка языков и разошелся по миру тиражом 5 миллионов экземпляров. Искушенные рецензенты и массовый читатель — все как один отмечали…

'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.

A British officer falls in love with his Japanese instructor at military language school. They began a romance but she is regarded as the enemy and she is not accepted by his countrymen. Later, he is captured by the Japanese army when he is patrolling with a brigadier and a Indian driver in a zone controlled by the Japanese. He escapes and returns to his own lines, only to discover that his fiancée has fallen perilously ill..