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Pirates at Play
Published to coincide with a biography of Violet Trefusis, this romantic comedy set in the Twenties shows young aristocrat, Elizabeth Caracole being finished in Florence with the family of a Papal count - the dentist. All five brothers fall for her, but their sister, Vica, has plans of her own.
- GenresFictionLiterature
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 15, 2017
If you liked Forster's Italian novels, try this. It's stupendous, and surpasses them in subtle humour and wit
January 31, 2021
An entertaining read - Violet Trefusis pokes gentle fun at the English aristocracy, the English in Florence and the Italian elite - she lived amongst them all, so she gets away with it! Amerigo is perhaps the cleverest character, but sadly, the least accepted by society. This is light comedy (despite packing some devastating punches), but well-written.
May 3, 2021
Pirates at Play: Violet Trefusis
Knowing little about Violet Trefusis, other than that she'd been the lover of Vita Sackville-West and was the daughter of Edward VII's mistress Alice Keppel, this book was recommended to me for its sparkle. I ended up being irritated by the very thing it had been praised for. One man's sparkle is another man's electricity cut. Set in the twenties, it's about a young aristocrat sent to be 'finished' in Italy with the family of the Pope's dentist, whose five sons and a daughter do their best to lure her ship onto the rocks. The text is peppered with French and Italian 'bon mots' - you either keep up or give up. She writes so well and it's all so clever that, as a writer, I ended up hating and admiring her in equal measure. I love Virago Modern Classics and I'm glad I've read it, but I think one might be sufficient.
Knowing little about Violet Trefusis, other than that she'd been the lover of Vita Sackville-West and was the daughter of Edward VII's mistress Alice Keppel, this book was recommended to me for its sparkle. I ended up being irritated by the very thing it had been praised for. One man's sparkle is another man's electricity cut. Set in the twenties, it's about a young aristocrat sent to be 'finished' in Italy with the family of the Pope's dentist, whose five sons and a daughter do their best to lure her ship onto the rocks. The text is peppered with French and Italian 'bon mots' - you either keep up or give up. She writes so well and it's all so clever that, as a writer, I ended up hating and admiring her in equal measure. I love Virago Modern Classics and I'm glad I've read it, but I think one might be sufficient.
October 13, 2018
I did really enjoy Pirates at Play – though something stopped me from really loving it – and I felt I should have done really, it is well written and witty, and Trefusis’ characters are wonderfully vivid. Her descriptions of Italy and the English country estate of the aristocratic Caracole family are also stunning, creating an evocative sense of place. Violet Trefusis was a gifted writer, of that I am in no doubt.
“The ferocious day, striped white and black, like a zebra, was declining at length, as though loath to let go. A nimbus of dust hung over the bridges, never free of the shuffle of feet. At the angle of the Ponte Vecchio, Beppino, the blind guitarist, scratched at his instrument with the frenzy of one affected with erysipelas, raising his moonstone eyes to the Heavens, whenever he heard a foreign language spoken.”
Trefusis is sharply observant about the society she knew so well, in some ways she is poking gentle fun at it. It is a novel about love in many forms, wish fulfilment and society. Trefusis’ female characters are by far the strongest, beautifully well drawn, they sparkle off the page, however, some of her male characters are rather two dimensional.
The pirates of the title are two very different families, one English, one Italian. Elizabeth Caracole (pronounced Crackle) is the daughter of an old aristocratic family, living on a grand and beautiful estate. Her parents decide to send her to be finished in Florence. Golden haired Elizabeth is to live in the home of a Papal Count (the pope’s dentist). The Papagalli family boast one extraordinarily beautiful daughter; Vica and five sons. Florence is a marvellous setting for this romantic comedy, set during the frantic, roaring twenties.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
“The ferocious day, striped white and black, like a zebra, was declining at length, as though loath to let go. A nimbus of dust hung over the bridges, never free of the shuffle of feet. At the angle of the Ponte Vecchio, Beppino, the blind guitarist, scratched at his instrument with the frenzy of one affected with erysipelas, raising his moonstone eyes to the Heavens, whenever he heard a foreign language spoken.”
Trefusis is sharply observant about the society she knew so well, in some ways she is poking gentle fun at it. It is a novel about love in many forms, wish fulfilment and society. Trefusis’ female characters are by far the strongest, beautifully well drawn, they sparkle off the page, however, some of her male characters are rather two dimensional.
The pirates of the title are two very different families, one English, one Italian. Elizabeth Caracole (pronounced Crackle) is the daughter of an old aristocratic family, living on a grand and beautiful estate. Her parents decide to send her to be finished in Florence. Golden haired Elizabeth is to live in the home of a Papal Count (the pope’s dentist). The Papagalli family boast one extraordinarily beautiful daughter; Vica and five sons. Florence is a marvellous setting for this romantic comedy, set during the frantic, roaring twenties.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews