Feb 252015
 

The court of Charles I, the crux of time when the Enlightenment was just on the cusp of beginning and modernity would start its relentless march of progress. This book is at once playful, erudite, maddening, insightful, wickedly funny, and absolutely insane. The modern world echoes back across time into the lives of people: boxox blends with viper’s blood, Joy Division mashes up with music at court, Ben Johnson and Van Dyck turn up; as does Jonathan Ross. It’s a stunning, audacious go at a novel, crammed full of art, emotion, life, and a living exorciation of the beauty industry.