EFFIE IN VENICE Mary Lutyens, ed. 1 873429 33 9 £12.99 352pp 16pp plates bibliography notes index sewn pbk with flaps 140 x 215 mm portrait Published in association with Ostara Publishing Even if these letters had not the special interest of being from John Ruskin's wife, they would be absorbing in their picture of the social life that dominated Venice at this particular period. Marghanita Laski in the Observer A lively picture of the ancien régime re-establishing itself for its last fling. Mary Lutyens has put so much into the narrative linking these hitherto unpublished letters and is so at home with the vast cast of characters, that the book is as much hers as Effie's. It is perhaps the most radiant episode in Ruskin's life. The Times Brilliantly edited... shows us Effie as she really was. An admirable book, completely engrossing, with footnotes that are really fascinating and show us not only the social history of the time but facts about Venice and foreign travel. Evening Standard If these letters vindicate Effie, they also rescue John from the remote regions to which so many biographical accounts have exiled him. Birmingham Post Superbly edited by Mary Lutyens from the original letters discovered by her untouched in the archives, Effie Ruskin's letters home from Venice give an unparalleled view of Victorian travel and society through the eyes of a highly intelligent and lively young woman. John Ruskin took his wife to Venice for the first time in 1849, and while he worked on books that would define the Victorian aesthetic ideal, Effie explored Venice with growing freedom and independence of thought. Rightly considered a classic both of travel literature and of writing about Victorian art and the milieu where much of it was made and appreciated, Effie in Venice makes a welcome return to print. Mary Lutyens (1909-1999), was the fourth daughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens. A novelist, historian and biographer, her works include To Be Young, an account of her youth in the conjoined circles of her father and Krishnamurti, a four volume biography of Krishnamurti, two other books on the world of Ruskin, Millais and the Ruskins and The Ruskins and the Grays, as well as a biography of her father. She was married to J. G. Links, the furrier, detective novelist, art historian and author of Venice for Pleasure.