The Flirt

Tantalizing words written on an ivory card. It is the first clue that will lead an intrigued and intriguing London lady on an odyssey of sensual experience designed to awaken her romantic nature.

Out-of-work actor Hughie Venables-Smythe has found a profitable new outlet for his talents. He is hired, often by distraught husbands, to flirt with wives who are feeling neglected in their relationships. His current seductive campaign is focused on Olivia, the spouse of a narcissistic billionaire, and the lady is responding quite nicely to the cream-colored missives he secretly leaves for her. So nicely, in fact, that Hughie decides to employ a similar technique—and shockingly similar messages—in his pursuit of his own hearts desire: the aloof and charming lingerie designer, Leticia. But the canny, professional flirts brazen anonymous intrusions into the lives of two women are about to set in motion a series of remarkable events that no one could have anticipated—setting the stage for shocking revelations about love, friendship, and domestic bliss.

"When charming, penniless would-be actor Hughie Armstrong Venables-Smythe answers a mysterious London ad for 'an attractive, well-mannered, mentally flexible young man,' he learns that he's to become a professional flirt, hired not to make conquests but to bring a touch of romance into the lives of unappreciated women. The catch: being a hopeless romantic, Hughie takes his job a bit too seriously. Deftly combining a sweetly improbable premise with witty, sometimes luminous writing, Tessaro (Elegance) tells the stories of Hughie's numerous clients, whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. They include Leticia, an emotionally repressed but sexually adventurous lingerie designer; Rose, a clueless waitress who accidentally becomes the darling of the London art scene; and Olivia, an emotionally abused socialite overdue for a transformation. Along with humor and a high London hipness quotient, Tessaro scores with keen insights into romance's perceptual and emotional hall of mirrors. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Originally from Pennsylvania, Kathleen Tessaro studied drama at Carnegie-Mellon University. After ten years working as an actress, she trained as a drama teacher and a voice coach before writing her debut novel, Elegance. She lives in London with her husband and son.