L. E. Butler

This novel about a love affair between two women, a painter and a dancer, in 1912 Venice is richly textured and vivid. It's almost as much about Venice as about the women. The city's artistic subculture is self-consciously decadent. Recreational drugs abound, as does exploitation of the poor by the rich, of the rich by the poor, and of both by gallery owners and other entrepreneurs. But the art is real and luscious, and so is this novel.

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