In this tart romance, British novelist Philippa Stockley stirs up a devilish brew of art and sex. Our stunningly handsome, narcissistic hero, Gilver Memmer, is a famous painter, fallen on hard times. London's golden boy by 28, Gilver has squandered his wealth and talent on lavish parties and frenzied sex; now, at 39, he hasn't painted much for 10 years and is almost broke.

His college roommate Harry, a gay decorator, finds him a dilapidated flat, and pretty Alice, a sub-editor at a newspaper whom he meets in the neighborhood, kindly helps him clean it. But Gilver is so monstrously self-absorbed that he forgets about Alice and spends the next two years in a drunken stupor. Alice and Harry, the novel's only likable characters, love Gilver for his good looks (now ravaged by alcohol) and magnetic personality, although they are smart enough to know they are being manipulated and used.

Enter Juliette, Alice's best friend, who coincidentally had known Gilver 15 years before and is set to destroy him. Juliette can be magnificently mischievous, ruthless and bullying, but even when we discover that as a young girl she was Gilver's victim, it's hard to feel sympathy for her. In fact, she and Gilver are both loathsome. Thankfully, Stockley raises questions of moral responsibility and doesn't let either of them off the hook.

The allusion to Pride and Prejudice -- one of many playful references here -- seems odd, for Gilver is no Mr. Darcy. However, he is as handsome, egotistical and arrogant as Darcy; his redemption involves rejection, wounded pride and a glimpse of self-knowledge. This transformation -- he quits drinking and paints work for a New York show in four months -- is miraculously quick.

Scheming Juliette, an editor for the gossip magazine Rogue, publishes a vicious expose, but I won't give away the ending, which ties together these loose ends in a romance fashion that does not completely work. Regardless, in this wickedly delightful but nasty concoction of sex, art and intrigue, Stockley takes us to the dark edges of pleasure.

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