128539944 89655117 “In its inventive range, its playful engagement and tantalizing mystery, What Casanova Told Me is breathtaking, a tour de force that detonates echoes of the past within the present…. Utterly seductive…. The lesson learned here is simple: Leave home, fall in love and believe in the accidents of pleasure and freedom.”
—The Globe and Mail

“At the risk of gushing, I have to say that all of the characters are fascinating…. Swan explores travel, home, love, sex,
culture and communication in this splendid book. You will probably want to read it more than once, for the suspense of the story and the beauty of the language.”
—The Vancouver Sun

“Susan Swan gets all romantic on us in her new novel, What Casanova Told Me. But with its historical base and crafty parallel structure, it turns out to be a winner…. One of Swan’s best.”
—Now Toronto (NNNN)

“Elegantly sensual…. Swan has created an exotic romance, a rollicking adventure, a work of prose that could almost be poetry…. This magnificently sad and funny and exciting trip is, indeed, one you’d be very sad you missed.”
—Calgary Herald

“This bawdy, fun, intelligent novel combines the feel of a trashy historical romance with the sophistication of novels such as The Hours and Possession.... What Casanova Told Me is a natural for its own feature film.”
—Flare, September 2004

“Part travelogue, part bodice-ripper, there is something both titillating and fantastical about this type of historical fiction, and Swan is adept at spinning facts into vividly imagined scenes and characters.”
—Quill & Quire

"Alluring … the stories (of the two protagonists) weave together well, and Asked For, in particular, has a bright, engaging voice."
—Publishers Weekly

"Swan uses dual narratives as an effective page-turning device in exploring the women's sexual awakenings. Her prose is often poetic, the characters charming. Recommended for most public libraries."
—Library Journal


"Engaging … nice historical color and a raft of exotic settings."
—Kirkus

"Rich in interesting digressions into subjects as diverse as Minoan goddess worship and Western Orientalist stereotypes. Swan ... has much to say about the emotional risks required to live a fulfilled life."
—Washington Post


Praise for Susan Swan:
“Susan Swan creates myth to lend a story to the problems of our time. . . . She forces us to look at a deeper reality. . . . Her interest in freaks, in the gothic, in the apocalyptic, are all ways of lending a narration to contemporary myths.”
—Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading and A Reading Diary

Praise for The Wives of Bath:
Lost and Delirious, the feature film based on this novel was released in 32 countries and featured at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

“Underneath the ribald, gothic tale of adolescent sexual awakening lies the dark, impenetrable web of gender paradox, made taut by the tension between what a young woman is, what she wants to be, and what society would have her become.”
—The Gazette (Montreal)

“Each compelling plot twist comes as a shock and a surprise [and] grips and doesn’t let go, until the truth is exposed.”
—New York Newsday

“Singular modern panache and rare poignancy. . .extremely funny; rare verve and flare.”
—The Sunday Times