Faro's Daughter - Georgette Heyer

When Max Ravenscar, renowned gamester and, by his own admission, untroubled by a romantic disposition, meets Deborah Grantham, beautiful mistress of her aunt's gaming house, all his experience of risk and gambles finds him unprepared. n nBeautiful Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt's elegant gaming house, must find a way to restore herself and her aunt to respectability, preferably without accepting either of two repugnant offers. One is from an older, very rich and rather corpulent lord whose reputation for licentious behavior disgusts her; the other from the young, puppyish scion of a noble family whose relatives are convinced she is a fortune hunter.

n nMax Ravenscar, uncle to her young suitor, comes to buy her off, an insult so scathing that it leads to a volley of passionate reprisals, escalating between them to a level of flair and fury that can only have one conclusion... n nMy favourite historical novelist--stylish, romantic, sharp, and witty. Her sense of period is superb, her heroines are enterprising, and her heroes dashing.

I owe her many happy hours. -Margaret Drabble n nGeorgette Heyer is unbeatable.

• Sunday Telegraph n nSparkling. -Independent on Sunday n nA writer of great wit and style...I've read herbooks to ragged shreds. -Kate Fenton, Daily Telegraphn