Casanova's Women

The eighteenth-century Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova used his charisma to talk his way into the beds of more than two hundred women, and turned his name into a synonym for seduction. This work looks at history's most famous seducer from a female perspective, throwing light on a dangerous and beguiling man.

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The eighteenth-century Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova used his charisma to talk his way into the beds of more than two hundred women, and turned his name into a synonym for seduction. Charming, brilliant and devastatingly attractive, the compulsive womaniser claimed to like and understand his conquests. He could be the perfect lover when he wanted to - thoughtful, generous and imaginative - but he could also beruthless, selfish, cruel and dishonest. Who were the women upon whom Casanova built his reputation as one of the greatest lovers who ever lived? From the two sisters with whom he had his first sexual experience to the libidinous Venetian nun who defied God in order to sleep with him, from the wealthy widow he tricked out of a fortune to the love of his life, the glamorous and daring Henriette, they all have their stories to tell. Here, Judith Summers looks at history's most famous seducer from a female perspective, throwing fascinating new light on a dangerous and beguiling man.