The Flesh and the Devil

by Teresa Denys

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0708817173
• ISBN13: 9780708817179
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Futura Publications
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Unforgetable!

Dark: Tortured hero torturing his heroine, who *somehow* comes to love him (go figure!). Rated R for: Sex and Violence. Frankly sexual and matter of factly violent, 'TF & TD' is hardly a light work of fiction. That said, however, Teresa Denys is one of the best writers that I have ever read: amazing use of the English language in both dialogue and descriptions. She solidly establishes period & atmosphere and creates characters that haunt you for years to come.I see echoes of Georgette Heyer's historical 'Beauvallet' crashed together with her gothic 'Cousin Kate' in this book. Many of the same plotlines and characters (though emphatically NOT the heroes!! -- watch instead the prospective mothers-in-law.) can be found in the comparison, as though Denys read Heyer's stories and then took them someplace else in her imagination. Only it's 'Beauvallet' as though reflected in a dark, smoky mirror: an opposite (perverted?) image of Heyer's storyline of the dangerous love between an English-noble-man and a Spanish-wealthy-young-woman in Spain during the time of Inquisition. Given the macabre twists, the familiarity can be very unsettling.Warning! This is an adult read, and not an easy one: as also in 'The Silver Devil', Denys' hero resorts to rape to compel the heroine to accept him. *Then* the really bad things start to pile up! It should be a downer, and I suppose it is, but impossibly, it comes out right at the end. It's a very disturbing, emotional and traumatic read.Nevertheless, I hope that BOTH of Denys' 2 books are reprinted, because these works are timeless and unforgetable and should remain in print!My heartfelt thanks to Teresa Denys for exquisite works of literary art.

Compelling

Set in Spain not long after the time of the Spanish Inquisition, a young noblewoman, Juana de Arrelanos, arrives at the Castillo Benaventes to marry Eugenio de Castaneda's nephew, the Duque de Valenzuela. Disappointed by her love and angry with her father's plans for this marriage, Juana becomes even more reluctant when she discovers that the Duque is seriously flawed both physically and mentally. The Duque's keeper is the foreigner, Felipe Tristan, who carries out both Castaneda's and his own plans for Juana.While it moves a little slower than Teresa Denys' other book, 'Silver Devil', the story is similar in style. The heroine is a stranger in a strange place full of court intrigue and plotting enemies. There is a feeling that no one can be trusted and those who appeared to be allies are often revealed to have ulterior motives. Felipe is ruthless in his pursuit of Juana and the better part of their relationship is one of bitter enmity. Juana spends most of the book alternating between desperation, anger, and despair. If you are looking for humor or gentle persuasion look elsewhere; there are none to be found in this story. Therein, however, lies the attraction. This type of storytelling seems very rare these days. Teresa Denys is able to bring the time period alive in all it's dark, gothic glory unlike many stories where obviously 21st century thinking and speaking characters seem to have simply been stuck in costumes. Like 'Silver Devil', I didn't particularly 'like' the hero (flawed, charismatic antihero) yet it is part of what made the story so compelling which is why I rated this book so highly.