A favourite of the Gods

S. Bedford

The relationships of mothers and daughters in Bedford's novels are among the funniest and most complex than one can find in fiction. The story of Anna, an American heiress who marries a Roman Prince, and their spirited daughter, Constanza. Constanza, the heroine of this novel, beautiful, amoral, a victim and a favourite of the Gods. The men who attracted her were vigorous, detached, subtle, gay. The narrative is picked up in "A Compass Error" (1968), in which she describes the lesbian love affair of Anna's grand-daughter, Flavia.