Misfortune

Description

Gormenghast meets Middlesex meets Fingersmith- a brilliant gothic novel and international bestseller by a truly exceptional writer. Lord Loveall, heretofore heirless lord of the sprawling Love Hall, is the richest man in England. He arrives home one morning with a most unusual package - a baby that he presents as the inheritor to the family name and fortune. In honor of his beloved sister, who died young, Loveall names the baby Rose. The household, relieved at the continuation of the Loveall line, ignores the fact that this Rose has a thorn...that she is, in fact, a boy. Rose grows up with the two servant children who are her only friends, blissfully unaware of her own gender, casually hitting boundaries at Love Hall's yearly cricket game and learning to shave even as she continues to wear more and more elaborate dresses. Until, of course, the fateful day when Rose's world comes crashing down around her, and she is banished from Love Hall as an impostor by those who would claim her place as heir.

Wesley Stace is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, By George and the thriller Charles Jessold. Stace is also a musician who, under the name John Wesley Harding, has released 15 albums ranging from traditional folk to pop music. The Los Angeles Times hailed his most recent pop release, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, as "Bookshop Rock like no other... expertly tweaking the lyricist's game at every turn" while the Wall Street Journal praised the album's "lyrics that dazzle without condescending."

I laughed, I cried, I swooned... I LOVED THIS BOOK -- Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveller's Wife I am in complete admiration... Remarkable, complex, delicate, sophisticated -- Bret Easton Ellis Stace's attention to every detail is a delight, and he revels in the richly embroidered language of his period... a delightful diversion * Daily Telegraph * As crazily gothic as Gormenghast * Independent on Sunday * Musical, almost symphonic...It engages boldly with the forces of social oppression and sexual repression * Guardian *