Creatures of Will and Temper

Starred review from July 10, 2017
Tanzer (The Pleasure Merchant) mixes Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Gray with queer romance and demonology in this subtle, beautiful Victorian-era fantasy novel. Evadne and Dorina Gray, sisters, come from the countryside to stay with their uncle, the painter Basil Hallward, in London; Dorina hopes this will foster her dreams of becoming an art critic. Evadne, reluctantly chaperoning her headstrong sister, would prefer to focus entirely on her own dream of improving her fencing. And Basil, whose lover, Oliver Wotton, has just died, is too wracked with grief to pay much attention to either of them. Lady Henrietta Wotton, Oliver’s sister, takes Dorina under her wing, and their budding romance aggravates Evadne intensely. The perfectly depicted relationship between the sisters takes center stage in a complex (though never overplayed) web of art, swordplay, romance, and, much to the sisters’ surprise, actual demons. Gorgeously portrayed three-dimensional characters and sensual prose propel this smoothly entertaining story to an emotionally affecting end. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary.

October 15, 2017

Sisters Evadne and Dorina Gray are separated not only by age but also by their vastly different temperaments. Elder Evadne is socially awkward and obsessed with fencing, while 17-year-old Dorina is sexually precocious, her seductions of other young women in the neighborhood cause some trouble. Evadne is saddled with the task of chaperoning her sister on a summer trip to London to stay with their Uncle Basil, an artist with whom Dorina wants to study. Soon after their arrival, Dorina falls under the influence of Lady Henry, a friend of Basil who offers to show her the beauties of the city. While Evadne doesn't trust Lady Henry, she could never guess that the small salon she hosts is really a circle for diabolists. VERDICT The Victorian era setting of Tanzer's latest (after the marvelous Weird Western Vermilion) adds a formality that contrasts nicely with the dueling and demonic communion. At its center is a difficult sibling relationship and the Gray sisters' parallel efforts to find somewhere to belong.--MM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
In this urban-fantasy retelling of Dorian Gray, we enter a decadent Victorian London filled with all of the rules and manners we know, but with the addition of two fascinating framesfencing and demons. The Gray sisters, Dorina and Evadne, come from the country to spend a few weeks in the London home of their artist uncle, Basil. Young and flighty Dorina is excited to enter society and is quickly taken under the wing of the mysterious and enchanting Lady Henry. But Lady Henry and Uncle Basil have a secret, one that lives inside of Henry and possibly others. Evadne, a stoic fencer, is sent to be her impetuous sibling's chaperone but soon finds herself immersed in a competitive fencing school, one with an underground agenda that puts the sisters in opposite corners of an epic battle. Tanzer wraps the reader up in a world where nothing is as it seems and notions of what is good or evil, moral or amoral, are up for grabs. With a satisfying mix of strong characters, lush descriptions, steady pacing, and plenty of exciting action sequences, this is a great choice for fans of supernatural fantasy set in the Victorian era.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)