The document describes a novella written in diary format, set in 1764, which tells the historical fiction love story of a sixteen-year-old girl forced into a dynastic marriage with a gay man. It features themes of the undead and the character Johann Joachim Winckelmann, exploring deep and multi-layered storytelling, with recommendations for fans of historical and gothic literature. The narrative is noted for its complexity and depth, suggesting it may require multiple readings to fully appreciate its intricacies.

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4.  Written in form of a diary, which genre
(epistolary, confessional) was so popular
in the 18th century and which sounds so
comprehensible in our time of blogging,
web-diaries and web-journals, the
novella may be called a love story. A
story of a sixteen-year-old damsel and
her weird marriage. Time: 1764, a year
after the Seven Years War.

6.  Set in Europe, the story is historical fiction, in
which Author studies the interesting case
when a gay man is enforced to get married
to a female (dynastic marriage) and what
comes of this unnatural act. (Warning: no
consensual sex, no sex relationship at all
between the spouses.) Nothing playful, but
the book is a story of a young thing, who
learns the world. Nothing unworldly, but the
mysterious and mighty undead, who
appears in the winter tale of the novel Silver
Thread Spinner, by Lara Biyuts, appears in
this new story as well.

7. The image of the undead is neither Author’s attempt to follow the fashion nor
Author’s contribution to the modern day literary taste; Author merely loves
speculating on the subject.

8.  Johann Joachim Winckelmann is a
secondary character in my historical fiction
A Handful of Blossoms. On the way to
Rome, he is on a visit to Constantine-
Leopold, Prince of Askanier-Hortz, who is
Consort of my main character Constance-
Otilia-Alexandrine, Princess of Anhalt-Welf,
whose Diary the reader has a chance to
read. After the supper party, the group of
table-mates begins story telling.

10.  True, the name of Antinous is mentioned only
passingly in the book A Handful of Blossoms,
with a reason being the same as before,
namely, Author prefers to leave the theme of
the god Antinous to other authors and
professional historians--but Mr Winckelmann,
who has much to do with the legacy of
antiquity, is one of the book personages. Not
loving the 18th century too much, unlike lots of
readers and historians, Author is interested in
the time solely for the purpose of using the
image of Mr Winckelmann, at least once, and
to mention the name of Antinous once again.

13.  “Lara Biyuts’ writing is deep and multi
layered. Expect to read this book a few
times in order to glean all the mysteries
and interlocking energies held inside the
writing. I don’t want to give away one of
the more interesting twists of the book,
but suffice it to say it holds a few
surprises.”

14.  “I found the story-telling through this
narrator to be very well done and all of
the characters had quite a bit of depth
to them. Biyuts did a very good job in
her writing of this book. I could actually
see this book being studied as literature
in a university class.”
 “I would definitely recommend this book
to fans of historical fiction or maybe to
fans of old-school Gothic literature.”

15.  “Complex story, complex writing style,
but if you have the patience, and the
courage to start it, I think you will find this
is a very original insight in an uncommon
era and setting for a novel.”

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