sentimental novel in a double black and humorous vein, a tribute to steampunk novels!

Roman pleasant and very original compared to other Thomas productions: a lot of verbal humor linked to voluntarily absurd speeches of the hero, a dark atmosphere of Victorian crime novel with the complex and scary uncle heroin and martyrdom of the aunt, but also the family drama of the hero (uxoricide father), a detective story and a double psychological and family intrigue. All this in the service of a story of love thwarted: fell in love at first sight, the heroes are separated by their doubles games (one as a spy plays chatty and libidinous limbécile and the other because she has learned to feign to survive and save his aunt), they are also separated by their antagonisms interest (she wants to marry and, as insufferably silly, she wants to marry his brother -peintre and secondary hero Private Arrangements-) and a Marriage based on trap. Thomas had fun tributes to accumulate all kinds néovictoriens (police, intelligence, Gothic ...), while building complex and painful personalities. This is a novel Drafting, psychology and lovingly. The end is beautiful: the meditator hero resilience of his brother and his wife, the bright and positive personality of it, choosing to open and loving.