The novel plays out against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London: teeming street-life; glorious buildings, newly restored after the Great Fire; the River Thames, the artery of England’s trade and commerce; splendid parks and gardens; magnificent townhouses; and Hampton Court itself — Queen Anne’s palace.
The novel is an erotic, witty drama about the City and the Court in early eighteenth-century England — a time of Jacobite plots and Popish fears that threatened to erupt in political violence. A time when marriage was a market and sex was a temptation fraught with dangers. A sexy modern love-story — set in 1711.
Named one of the Best Books of 2007 by The Washington Post and The Economist.
"Gee writes with scholarly confidence, underpinning the racy intrigue of her account with a real understanding of the characters and their world."
—The New Yorker.
"Seductive and utterly absorbing."
—Observer.
"For anyone who enjoyed Shakespeare in Love or Dangerous Liaisons it is a treat; rich and satisfying."
—The Economist.
"A clever and inviting piece of critical biography masquerading as a light comedy of manners."
—The New York Times Book Review.
"A witty and well-paced novel."
—Times Literary Supplement.
"The Scandal of the Season is a brisk and witty novel of calculated risk ... that combines a nuanced, Austen-like observation of the period's claustrophobic social codes with a lustier expose of their transgressions."
—Financial Times.
"Lively, amusing and highly evocative of a thrilling age."
—Tatler.
"Gee knows her period inside out, and recreates it with a kind of loving joy."
—The Guardian.
"This is historical fiction at its wittiest and most enlightening."
—The Independent.
"Fresh, sexy and funny, this debut is so readable it's like an 18th-century Jilly Cooper novel."
—Elle.
"Clever and sexy,"
— Daily Mail.
"I was dazzled by her flair and brio."
—Rowan Pelling, Telegraph (London).
"A lively romp ... this kind of fun doesn't come along often enough."
—The Christian Science Monitor.
"The Scandal of the Season offers both charms and merit, an extravagant costume drama infused with the poet's incisive wit and moral insight."
—The Washington Post.
"Gee's lively, highly literate debut explores the historical figures and events
satirized in Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock." Delightfully gossipy, psychologically insightful and historically fascinating."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Gee's shrewd debut, an erudite period piece filled with outrageous flirtation, social maneuvering and contests of wit ... is sprinkled with literary cameos and jokes English lit majors will appreciate, while crackling verbal one-upmanship and crude double entendres should keep the hoi polloi turning pages. Gee's take on the Paris Hilton-like figures who pranced through London 300 years ago manages to be simultaneously tabloid bawdy and academy proper."
—Publishers Weekly
"Drawn with an arch tone and acute observational gifts worthy of the best traditions of social satire, the book is a deeply entertaining and illuminating read."
—Sydney Morning Herald
"[This] confidently drawn portrait is so masterful you can almost smell it. Fast, clever and at times quite suspenseful, The Scandal of the Season will appeal to anyone with an appreciation of the beau monde and the perilous path they trod as they desperately sought to be the hit, rather than the jape, of the season."
—Herald Sun (Australia)
"An altogether first-class piece of story-telling that is not only full of wit and history, but is intriguing, addictive and raunchy"
—The Australian Womens Weekly
"A seduction reminiscent of Dangerous Liaisons, with the crackling historical mystery of An Instance of the Fingerpost. The Scandal of the Season captures the breezy poetic romance of Shakespeare in Love, recast to star Alexander Pope."
—Ian Caldwell, coauthor of The Rule of Four
"Sophie Gee's dazzling, sophisticated novel is a clever re-imagining of Alexander Pope's famous poem and a wildly entertaining tale in its own right. The romance and adventure of The Scandal of the Season will seduce readers from the first page."
—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana
"With passion and flair, The Scandal of the Season animates an intriguing period of literary history, fleshed out in fluid, intricate and seductive writing. Every reader will enjoy the wit and subtlety in the novel's dangerous and delicate balance of eighteenth century customs and transgressions. What a first impression! Sophie Gee's debut novel signals her unique expertise and a great career ahead."
—Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow
"With The Scandal of the Season, Sophie Gee gives us that rarest of pleasures: a tale at once intelligent and frothy, richly edifying and compulsively readable. Combining her eye for details with her flair for narrative suspense, Gee recreates the glamour, intrigue and treachery of Alexander Pope's London: a captivating world that I was sad to leave when I reached the book's final page."
—Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
Sophie Gee has also written an introduction to a new Vintage Classics edition of The Rape of the
Lock. This book is a reproduction of the famous Aubrey Beardsley edition of the poem, featuring his
lavish, seductive black and white illustrations.
