Venus Flaring

by Suzannah Dunn

Loyalty, love, memory and betrayal are explored in this stylish tale of friendship. Ornella, a doctor, and Veronica, a journalist, share everything in their lives, hiding nothing from each other. But this truest of friendships does not stand the test of time, and it disintegrates into a chillingly obsessive nightmare.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Suzannah Dunn was born in London, and grew up in the village of Northaw in Hertfordshire (for Tudor ‘fans’: Northaw Manor was the first married home of Bess Hardwick, in the late 1540s). Having lived in Brighton for nineteen years, she now lives in Shropshire. Her novel about Anne Boleyn (The Queen of Subtleties) was followed by The Sixth Wife, on Katherine Parr, and The Queen's Sorrow, set during the reign of Mary Tudor, ‘Bloody Mary’, England’s first ruling queen. Her forthcoming novel – to be published in hardback in May 2010 – is The Confession of Katherine Howard. Prior to writing about the Tudors, she published five contemporary-set novels and two collections of stories. She has enjoyed many years of giving talks and teaching creative writing (from six weeks as ‘writer in residence’ on the Richard and Judy show, to seven years as Programme Director of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing).

Reviews

[Jodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The description of this book does not really describe this book at all. Some interesting prose, but the story is pointless and the two main characters are awful, for different reasons, - struggled to find a redeeming feature in either of them.

[Anum · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book really left me very confused to tell you the truth. I was looking for a take on friendship in general or at least on the friendship that was between Veronica and Ornella. However, it seems that the author is herself a little confused. I cannot understand the fallout as Veronica seems to hate Ornella's selfishness and fails to understand her friend's disturbed disposition, acting like a teenager in matters of friendship even when she is as old as thirty. However, I could not but think of Veronica as the more selfish friend out of the two. Instead of developing an understanding as regards to her friend's new life she seems more concerned regarding the fact that Ornella is not giving her time and is not talking to her about things.

It appears that she is being tortured yet I cannot help but wonder why? Does Veronica not have a life of her own... She needed to move on from the teenage notion that your friends are these perfect confiding objects. She needed to move on from the idea that you can only remain friends with those who keep their relationship with you as it was years ago. In her character I failed to find a real growth, she seemed static and rather stagnant. Her journey into motherhood was also not seen through the moulding and develpement of her thoughts but rather from the words of the author.

I would have to sadly say that this book was a waste of time really...