“A new government must dazzle and amaze,” he said. The ones the beast didn’t kill itself with an easy kick, its master had disposed of because its coat didn’t shine or the bit was green. That horse had the evil eye and there’s been almost as many dead grooms in the stable as chickens on the table. The Passion is a love story, a meditation on pleasure and its limits, a poetic novel written in a style that is wholly original.” - Interview “The book has the enchanted pessimism of the best fairy tales. As good as Poe: it dares you to laugh and stares you down.” - The New York Review of Books “The overwhelming impression of her work is one of remarkable self-confidence, and she evidently thrives on risk. Winterson is a master of her material, a writer in whom great talent deeply abides.” - Vanity Fair it is written with a living passion, an eyewitness immediacy. “A historical novel quite different from any other. magical touches dance like highlights over the brilliance of the fairy tale about passion, gambling, madness, and androgynous ecstasy.” -Edmund White a deeply imagined and beautiful book, often arrestingly so.” - The New York Times Read more and brilliant' Guardian 'As moving and funny as it is skilful, and reflects the author's formidable appetite for life' Sunday Times 'A book of great imaginative audacity and assurance.brilliantly physical (and funny) detail Times Literary Supplement 'Its concentrated, beautifully detailed prose recalls the diction of fairy tales its plot incorporates their magic, their shrewd wit and brutality.“Its concentrated, beautifully detailed prose recalls the diction of fairy tale its plot incorporates their magic, their shrewd wit and brutality. As the soldier-chef's love for Napoleon turns to hate he finds the Venetian beauty, and together they flee to the canals of darkness. Meanwhile, in Venice, the city of chance and disguises, Villanelle was born with the webbed feet of her boatman father - but in the casinos she gambled her heart and lost.

From Boulogne to Moscow Henri butchered for his Emperor and never killed a single man. Henri had a passion for Napoleon and Napoleon had a passion for chicken. Description for The Passion (Vintage Blue) Paperback.

Jeanette winterson's the passion