Richard Mason 
History of a Pleasure Seeker 

‘An enthralling, perfectly paced romp that breathes new life into the picaresque genre’ Observer’Rich in period detail and with requisite glittering trappings’ Daily Mail’A Continental Downton Abbey plus sex, with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons tossed in’ Seattle Times1907, Amsterdam. The belle poque is in full swing and Piet Barol has secured a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier — a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on one of the city’s grandest canals. As Piet is swept into the glittering society, he begins to uncover its secrets and finds his life transformed.With nothing but his looks, charm and youth to rely on, he is determined to make a fortune of his own. But in the heady exhilaration of this opulent new world, amid romance, delights and temptations he has only dreamed of, Piet discovers that some of the liaisons he has cultivated are dangerous indeed . . .