In Lucia's Eyes

Praise

“Enthralling…Packed with the color of 18th-century life…A complex examination of thwarted love…A marvelous reversal of hunter and prey, with a soupcon of Dangerous Liaisons…Lucia’s slightly arch voice throbs with as much searching intelligence as sexual passion… What makes In Lucia’s Eyes so fascinating is its melding of disparate veins: It’s a painful story that arrives at profound insights about the nature of love, but it’s spiked with bodice-ripper suspense and humor; it’s an intensely private testimony of one woman’s peculiar survival, but it’s laced with a fascinating survey of 18th-century intellectual history. Brace yourself with all the skepticism you want, you’ll still be seduced.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“An irresistible subject…Lucia is a prostitute with a 24-karat intellect. By the end of a novel that consistently pits reason against emotion, she has found the means to satisfy each.”
—Kathryn Harrison, The New York Times Book Review

“Intelligent, poignant, and yes, sexy…. A literary page-turner for those with a brain as well as a heart.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Japin has done his historical homework…A mesmerizing look into a Europe of long ago.”
—Condé Nast Traveler

“A dark intrigue…Vivid…Startlingly poignant…unfolding in intricately plotted flashbacks and divan-rattling love scenes…. Through Lucia, we’re able to discern firsthand the secrets of Casanova’s success.”
—Vogue

“Inspired by a character in Giacomo Casanova’s History of My Life—a once beautiful girl disfigured by small pox whom the great seducer meets again in the brothels of Amsterdam—Arthur Japin spins an enthralling tale on the mystery of first love and its endurance in the face of a lifetime of hardships.”
—Andrea Di Robilant, author of A Venetian Affair

“To see the world through Lucia’s eyes is to see it in the fullness of wonders and dangers most never notice.”
—Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist