'When Perseus hacked off Medusa's head, he tossed the bloody stump away. Where it fell, a fountain sprang up and gave birth to the Muses.' He turns back to the Aga. 'Which means that under the skin of every great painting, behind every celestial-sounding piece of music, the blood of the monster is stinking away.'

A PARTIAL INDULGENCE is published by Sceptre on 2nd April 2009 £11.99

  • Charles Frederick de Vere, art dealer, gourmand and charismatic toff, appears to live a charmed life. But how much longer can he escape the dark secrets that lurk behind his phenomenal success?
His partners in crime include:
  • Carmen, a fiercely ambitious Mexican American who meets de Vere when she is working as a chambermaid in Claridges.
  • Ellsworth, a hedonistic painter with blue blood and uncertain talent who went to school with de Vere and refers to him as "the dog".
  • Cosima, Ellsworth's other-worldly niece, a gifted artist and the object of de Vere's obsession.
Their lives and their art are fuelled by champagne, sex and money. Moving from 60s Paris to 80s New York, from a decaying mansion in rural England to the over-hyped London of the Young British Artists, Stephanie Theobald peels back the glamorous veneer of the art world to reveal its rotting heart. Praise for previous novels:
Theobald is knowledgeable about the outer reaches of desire.Esquire
Comic, tender and with lashings of rude bits.The Times
Theobald is an effortless, natural poet.Guardian

Stephanie Theobald was society editor of Harper's Bazaar for three years. She has written extensively about the art world for Harper's Bazaar as well as for The Sunday Times, The Observer and Arena magazine. She is the author of Biche, Sucking Shrimp and Trix. A Partial Indulgence is her fourth novel.

Stephanie Theobald is available for interview and to write features. For more information contact Henry Jeffreys on 020 7873 6177 or email henry.jeffreys@hodder.co.uk.

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