Simonetta Perkins (Hesperus Classics)2004

Considered by Hartley to be the most accomplished of his works, Simonetta Perkins is a brilliantly observed tale of desire and guilt. Set against a glorious Venetian backdrop, it explores the nature of physical temptation, creating a complex psychological work deeply reminiscent of Henry James. Visiting Venice with her mother, Bostonian ingénue Lavinia Johnstone soon tires of their fellow American tourists and her mother’s unstinting attempts to find her a husband. Increasingly, she withdraws into herself, her diary being the only outlet for her deep-seated frustrations. And it is in her diary that she begins to explore the extraordinary sensations that she experiences when her gaze falls on an extremely attractive Venetian gondolier. L.P. Hartley, a proliflc story writer and novelist, is best remembered for his masterpiece The Go-Between.