 Christina Patterson called Waters " an extremely confident writer , combining precise , sensuous descriptions with irony and wit in a skilled , multi @-@ layered pastiche of the lesbian historical romance . " Renee Graham 's review in The Boston Globe characterised the novel 's style as " plush and inviting — delicious , even " . In The New York Times , Miranda Seymour drew attention to the scene when Nan dresses up as Hadrian 's lover , the page Antinous who was drowned in the Nile , for a masquerade benefiting Diana 's friends in a hedonistic <unk> that ends violently with Nan cast out of the house into the cold , highlighting it as a passage of " startling power " . Although Seymour was disappointed with the ending , she wrote , " If lesbian fiction is to reach a wider readership — as much , though far from all , of it deserves to do — Waters is just the person to carry the banner . " 
