Читать книгу A Reputation for Notoriety - Diane Gaston - Страница 3

A REPUTATION FOR NOTORIETY is the first of two books in The Masquerade Club, a series in which identities are concealed and desires revealed. The Masquerade Club is a gaming hell (a gambling establishment) in Regency London, like those where in reality many a gentleman—and lady—lost vast fortunes playing cards or rolling dice.

My own history of card-playing is not so dramatic. As children, my sisters and I played at gambling with our own toy roulette wheel and a real set of poker chips. We learned to play five-card stud and twenty-one. Game-playing, especially if for real or imaginary stakes, could easily consume a whole day, and often took up a great part of our summers.

My father had no interest in cards, but my mother and aunt (the Aunt Loraine in my dedication) loved to play. Whenever we got together with their sister and our cousins we could hardly wait to get out the cards.

The card game we played was Shanghai, a complicated rummy game that we adapted to make even more challenging. We played for money. Fifteen cents was the stake, but extra nickels could also be won (or lost). These games were competitive and cut-throat and riotous fun. Even now when we see our cousins we break out the cards and play Shanghai.

The gambling hells of the Regency were, I dare say, not anything like playing Shanghai with my cousins, but I like to think we were not too dissimilar from Jane Austen and her characters, who spent many evenings playing such card games as Loo, Commerce, and Cassino.

I hope you enjoy The Masquerade Club, Celia—and Rhys, who has A REPUTATION FOR NOTORIETY.

Visit my website at http://dianegaston.com or send an e-mail to diane@dianegaston.com