Viper Wine by Eyre, Hermione - 2014

London: Jonathan Cape, 2014. An As New copy in an As New Dustjacket. First Edition, First Printing. 440 pages. At Whitehall Palace in 1632, the ladies at the court of Charles I are beginning to look suspiciously alike. Plump cheeks, dilated pupils, and a heightened sense of pleasure are the first signs that they have been drinking a potent new beauty tonic, Viper Wine, distilled and discreetly dispensed by the physician Lancelot Choice. Famed beauty Venetia Stanley is so extravagantly dazzling she has inspired Ben Jonson to poetry and Van Dyck to painting, provoking adoration and emulation from the masses. But she fears her powers are waning and all that adoration has curdled to scrutiny. The novel takes us backstage at a glittering Inigo Jones court masque, inside a dour Puritan community, and into the Countess of Arundel's snail closet. 154. First. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.