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Press review for The Decadent Handbook
"This book could have been atrocious, because everyone wants to be decadent at sometimes, and scarcely anything can be as dull or as selfish as the accounts of their efforts. When, 19 and impressionable, I met my friend Katherine for the first times, I was utterly delighted at having met a person who drank wine before lunchtime –and at over £3 a bottle, too! - and knew songs about bestiality. In fact, this lovely volume is a delight. By any standards, but particularly for a collection of essays, the standard of writing is consistently high. It starts with an exploration of the definition and theory of decadence, and goes on to describe its manifestations in the realms of art, sex, food, and in (in a particularly heroic paean), music. Sometimes alluring, sometimes repellent, its other great strength is its acknowledgement of the dark side of decadence - for every binge is a hangover, for every Byron a Glitter. As honest as it's heartfelt, only those who don’t read it carefully would accuse it of glorifying immorality; but it does glorify the seizure of the day."