Love in a Cloud: A Comedy in Filigree

A young woman's enthusiasm for a novel becomes dangerously personal in this sparkling Victorian comedy of errors. May Calthorpe has fallen head over heels for "Love in a Cloud", the book everyone's buzzing about, and has taken the bold step of writing to its mysterious author, Christopher Calumus, under an assumed name. There's only one problem: she's scheduled to meet the real author at tea that very afternoon, and she has no idea who he is. As identities multiply and misunderstandings multiply faster, Bates proves himself a keen observer of the absurd theatre that is polite society attempting to talk about love. The satire is gentle but sharp, the romantic entanglements genuinely complicated, and the whole thing bubbles with the particular pleasure of watching well-mannered people try to wriggle out of their own deceptions. For readers who enjoy the quieter comedies of manners, where the fireworks happen in drawing rooms and the most dangerous weapon is a visiting card.