Casanova
By Ian Kelly
Hodder £8.99, 416 pages
FT Bookshop price £7.19

Game-playing and masquerade defined Casanova, from his lowly origins in the Venetian theatre to his salon success throughout Europe, where his quick-witted confidence secured necessary patronage.

The Venetian Inquisition condemned Casanova for “trying to elevate himself in society and make his fortune whilst satisfying his pleasures at the same time”, but was more alarmed by his mingling with aristocrats than by his reputation for debauchery.

Despite joyously recounting many racy trysts from Casanova’s extensive touring of Europe, Kelly’s engrossing biography presents his flamboyant subject as “a libertine on the cusp of being a romantic”, more interested in sexually enlightened women and the game of seduction than by tallying bed notches. A picaresque excitement infects Kelly’s breathless prose, which canters through Casanova’s ill-suited flirtation with the priesthood, escape from prison, spying for France and duelling in Poland.