Life Mask - Hardcover
LIFE MASK is the true story of three famous Londoners - an artist, an actress and an aristocrat - at the end of the eighteenth century. This is their love story, their gamble, their battle. Let the games begin. Everybody wears a mask. Hadn't you noticed? We put them on for one very good reason: we dislike our own faces. It's an era of looming war, and the erosion of freedom in the name of national security. A time of high art and big business, trashy spectacles and financial disasters. Celebrities are hounded by journalists, who serve up private passions alongside public crises. Marriages stretch or break, and so do friendships; political liaisons prove as dangerous as erotic ones. In Parliament, on stage, in the bedroom, at the race track, round the dinner table, old loyalties are wrenched by the winds of change. The World - as elite calls itself - is fighting to survive these chaotic times.
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Review:
One of the satisfactions of Emma Donoghue's masterful fourth novel, Life Mask, is the tension between the writer's contemporary interests, like lesbianism and the balance of power in marriage, and her 18th Century subject matter. Life Mask is a fictional recreation of a plausible (but unproven) love triangle between the comedic actress Eliza Farren, the sculptor Anne Damer (the niece of Horace Walpole, a fantastic minor character here), and Edward Smith-Stanley, the twelfth Earl of Derby, a Whig (liberal) politician who left his name to the horse race he founded. Like her bestseller Slammerkin, the novel spins an intricate story from the slightest of historical traces, in this case a single reference in the commonplace book of Hester (Thrale) Piozzi: a snarky four-line epigram that hints at the danger to Miss Farren's reputation in consorting with "one whose name approaches 'Damn Her.'"
Book Description:
Readers who stay with Donoghue through the crowded and confusing early chapters of Life Mask will find a skillful, partly sympathetic portrait of English aristocracy during and after the French Revolution, a trove of period detail, and a spellbinding tale of unlikely but enduring love. --Regina Marler
Published in hardcover by Harcourt, 2004, 0-15-100943-0
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- PublisherVirago Press Ltd
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 1860499805
- ISBN 13 9781860499807
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Rating
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Life Mask
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Used; Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Grubby book may have mild dirt or some staining, mostly on the edges of pages. Seller Inventory # CHL9548313
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good (Book condition). Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good (Jacket Condition). First UK Edition. A nice copy with some soiling at foot of front-edge. Jacket has some shelfwear, but no chips, no tears. Text clean, binding strong. [Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine; 2. Near Fine; 3. Very Good; 4. Good; 5. Fair.]. Book. Seller Inventory # 018531
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ISBN 13: 9781860499807
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. We're happy to combine shipping to save you some money. We're also always buying collectible book collections. Contact us for details. We're happy to provide pictures of any and all books for you, please just ask! British first edition, first printing. Published by Virago in 2004. Virtually no wear to jacket. Jacket is NOT price clipped. Covers are clean and bright. Edges are sharp. No tears or creases. The book itself is in Near Fine condition with no bumps or marks. The binding is straight and tight. No remainder mark. Seller Inventory # sku520003695
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Book Description Condition: Good. First US Edition. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP7643637
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ISBN 13: 9781860499807
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Book Description Condition: Very Good. First US Edition. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 12242599-6
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good (Book condition). Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good (Jacket Condition). First UK Edition. A nice copy with some soiling at foot of front-edge. Jacket has some shelfwear, but no chips, no tears. Text clean, binding strong. [Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine; 2. Near Fine; 3. Very Good; 4. Good; 5. Fair.]. Book. Seller Inventory # 018531
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Life Mask
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ISBN 10: 1860499805
ISBN 13: 9781860499807
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY - customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery. ; Light bruising to spine ends.Tanning to fore-edge.; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 34495
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