Several Deceptions

These four novellas are narrated by a brilliantly distinctive voice telling the stories of an Anglo-Italian Professor of Semiotics undone by his own cleverness; the old university friends whose party is galvanised by a pugnacious newcomer into a demented Buchanesque mission to restore their hostess's lost humour;

A very enjoyable display of deadly wit given with a relaxed literary confidence. Here is a gossipy, smart, critical, intellectual, high spirited and literate voice

Clever and enjoyable... This is an accomplished first book, and even if Stevenson never writes another word, she is already more than promising

What continuously sustains these stories is an unfashionable concept of serious fiction as etnertainment, an art in which the process is as enjoyable as the effects it is designed to produce... Relish the neat professionalism of a smart new act

Stevenson's careful plotting and attention to detail prove she is a new voice worth listening to

Jane Stevenson is the author of two collections of novellas, Several Deceptions and Good Women , and four novels, London Bridges , Astraea , The Pretender and The Empress of the Last Days . She is a professor in the history department at Aberdeen University and holds the Regius Chair of Humanity.