Aphra Behn wrote like someone who had nothing to lose and everything to prove. As one of the first English women to publish fiction under her own name, she brought a ferocity and wit to romance that shocked her 17th-century readers and has delighted generations since. This volume gathers some of her most playful works, including 'The Lover's Watch,' a dazzling conceit in which the beloved Iris sends her separated lover Damon a timepiece that doesn't merely mark the hours but dictates them: each hour comes with instructions for how he should think, act, and yearn in her absence. The watch becomes a meditation on desire, patience, and the torture of loving at a distance. Rounding out the collection are 'A Voyage to the Isle of Love' and a sequence of poems that pulse with the same reckless sensuality. Behn's lovers don't sigh politely; they burn. For anyone who thinks romance lacks brains, or wit lacks heart, Behn remains the rebuttal.
