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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Napoleonic war violence depicted including the Russian campaign's brutality; soldiers' suffering
Language
Barely any
Mild language; Winterson's prose is literary throughout
Sexual Content
Some
A passionate same-sex romance between women; some sensual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Drinking in the wartime and casino setting
Emotional Intensity
Some
Moderate psychological intensity: the consuming nature of passion, war's dehumanizing effects, and loss are the novel's emotional subjects
What this book is about
Two narratives intertwine: Henri, a young French soldier who serves as Napoleon's cook and follows him to catastrophic defeat in Russia, and Villanelle, a Venetian gondolier's daughter with webbed feet who works in a casino and falls passionately in love with a married woman. Jeanette Winterson's lyrical novella blurs history and fairy tale in prose of extraordinary beauty and compression, exploring passion, war, loss, and the strange geography of the heart.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Napoleonic war violence and suffering
Same-sex romance between women as central relationship
Reader Verification
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