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Powder and Patch

Georgette Heyer

1968159 pagesabout 2–4 hours
1968
first published
  • 1968Pan Books in association with William Heinemann · 159 pages · ENGISBN 9780330020633
  • 1969Bantam · ENGISBN 9780553047325
  • 2008Thorndike Press · ENGISBN 9781410408341
  • 2010Sourcebooks Casablanca · 208 pages · ENGISBN 9781402219498
  • 2011Penguin Random House · 176 pages · ENGISBN 9781446456729
  • 2004Mira · 282 pages · ENGISBN 9780373836024
  • 2005Arrow · 320 pages · ENGISBN 9780099474432
  • 1984Bantam · ENGISBN 9780553235791

In an 18th-Century England of wit, womanising and powdered wigs, provincial Philip Jettan runs the risk of irreproachability. When her childhood friend, the golden-haired Cleone Charteris returns from finishing school, her exquisite charms have made her the belle of the English countryside. Philip is determined to attract the attentions and launches an amorous campaign to win her hand in marriage.. But Cleone yearns for a husband who is refined, aristocratic and who is as skilled with his wit as he is with his dueling pistols.... Everything Philip Jettan is not. As much as she is attracted to the handsome squire, Cleone finds herself dismissing Philip and his rough mannerisms. With his father's encouragement, Philip departs for the courts of Paris, determined to acquire the social graces and the airs of the genteel — and convince Cleone that he is the man most suited for her hand, but with unforeseen consequences for them both ... He comes back as a fashionably attired man of the world, with powder, patches, and all the manners of a seasoned rake. Does Cleone now have exactly the kind of man she's always wanted, or was her insistence on Philip's remarkable transformation a terrible mistake? Soon, Cleone discovers that she has rivals.

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