My Guilty Pleasure #2 - Spies

OK, I've just realised that I've missed this feature for July. For some reason I thought I posted the first one in July, but it was the last day of June *facepalm*

So here it is. SPIES. Spies in historicals! I love, love, love them!

How it all started?

Я только сейчас поняла, что пропустила Мои Запретные Удовольствия за июль. Почему-то я думала, что первый пост вышел в июле, а оказалось, что я запостила его в последний день июня...

Итак, в этот раз я говорю о ШПИОНАХ. Шпионах в историческом романе. Да, да, я их обожаю! Особенно период Наполеоновских войн и Французской революции.

А началось всё с "Бархата" Джейн Фэйзер. Как сейчас помню... Так как книгу эту можно легко найти в русских библиотеках больше ничего говорить не буду.

The time set is during the rule of Napoleon. Gabrielle, a young niece of Talleyrand, a devious French Minister of Foreign Affairs, sets off to Britain to avenge her dead lover and punish a British spymaster, Nathaniel who is responsible for the death. She poses as a young vivacious widow and starts a passionate affair with Nathaniel determined to cause his downfall and find what hurts him most...Not only I love Talleyrand, who is a brilliant historical figure, but the sparks and intrigues in this book made the characters unforgettable.

But the BEST. EVER. spy historicals are written by Joanna Bourne. She is the goddess, and I'm a worshipper at her feet. The characters, the philosophy, the historical details in these two books are something special and unique. See for yourself...

Но лучшие исторические романы о шпионах написаны Джоанной Бурн!

Synopsis from Goodreads
She's braved battlefields. She's stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She's played the worldly courtesan, the naïve virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one man she can't outwit...

British spymaster Robert Grey must enter France and bring back the brilliant, beautiful-and dangerous-Fox Cub. His duty is to capture her and her secrets for England. When the two natural enemies are thrown into prison, they forge an uneasy alliance to break free. But their pact is temporary and betrayal seems inevitable as the fates of nations hang in the balance.

Ревью на русском здесь.

  “Do you know the Symposium , Grey?” She set her palm against the stubble on his cheek. Men were not like women at all, to the touch. “The Symposium of Plato.”

“I’ll find you, wherever you go. You know that. I’ll never give up.”

“You will not find me. You shall not know at all where to look for me. Pay attention. Plato says that lovers are like two parts of an egg that fit together perfectly. Each half is made for the other, the single match to it. We are incomplete alone. Together, we are whole. All men are seeking that other half of themselves. Do you remember?”

“This isn’t the goddamned time to talk about Plato.”

That made her smile. “I think you are the other half of me. It was a great mix-up in heaven. A scandal. For you there was meant to be a pretty English schoolgirl in the city of Bath and for me some fine Italian pastry cook in Palermo. But the cradles were switched somehow, and it all ended up like this…of an impossibility beyond words."

 Synopsis from Goodreads
A career is blooming... 
A glittering French aristocrat is on the run, disguised as a British governess. England's top spy has a score to settle with her family. But as they're drawn inexorably into the intrigue and madness of Revolutionary Paris, they gamble on a love to which neither of them will admit.

This synopsis is not good enough for the book. To sum it up, Doyle is a devious British spy and Marguerite controls a wide network of resistance during French Revolution and helps rescuing aristocrats from Madam Guillotine. 


Their characters are strong, funny, self-deprecating and brilliant.

Ревью на русском здесь.

А как насчёт вашего Запретного Удовольствия?


So, what is your Guilty Pleasure?