title: Courtesan: A Novel
author:  Dora Levy Mossanen 
description: A sweeping romance with intrigues in both fin de sicle Paris and repressive Persia, Mossanen's engrossing second novel (after <i>Harem</i>) follows the sentimental education of a young seductress. Though Simone knows from a young age that she's too romantic to follow her courtesan mother, Franoise, into the family business, her grandmother, famed Parisian madam Gabrielle (ne Ester Abramowicz), isn't so convinced. A really handsome man, she figures, can seduce Simone, and thus initiate her into the habits of wealthy courtesans. Gabrielle sets upon Cyrus, a handsome Persian jeweler, and Simone is intrigued by the man who supplies only the rarest diamonds to the shah's court ("Was the origin of red diamonds the blood of mistreated diggers, the blazing eyes of dragons guarding illicit mines, or the tears of children forced into hard labor?" she wonders). She succumbs to his charmsbut then they fall in love. Simone moves with her new husband to the rugged mountains of Persia to make a quiet life living as Jews in a Muslim country, but her happiness is short-lived. Abrupt shifts between times and locations confuse, but the engaging plot wins out. And while the sex scenes are a bit overcooked (Simone "directed the creamy gaze of her breasts" at a suitor), readers will find themselves gripped by spirited Simone's many adventures. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  THE INCORRIGIBLE COURTESAN
  
  Copyright ©2019 by Merry Farmer
  
  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be
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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
  products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
  to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
  Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill (the miracle-worker)
  
  ASIN: B07MK7ZZB5
  
  Paperback ISBN: 9781793005199
  
  [Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry
  Farmer