Curious Invitation

Forty of the greatest fictional festivities as seen through the eyes of the worlds greatest writers.People love to party. And writers love to attend and document these occasions. The party is a useful literary device, not only for social commentary and satire but also as an occasion where characters can meet, fall in and out of love, or even get murdered.A Curious Invitation is a humorous and informative guide to literatures most memorable parties. Some of these parties are depictions of real events, like the Duchess of Richmonds ball on the eve of battle with Napoleon in Thackerays Vanity Fair; others draw on the authors experience of the society they lived in, such as Lady Metrolands party in Evelyn Waughs Vile Bodies; while others come straight from the writers bizarre imagination, like Douglas Adams flying party above an unknown planet from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.Witty, entertaining, and full of fabulous detail, A Curious Invitation offers readers the chance to crash some of the great parties in literary history.