In 1876, the beautiful, courageous Vesper Holly of Philadelphia
finagles her guardians,Mary and Brinton Garrett, into accompanying her and her persistent friend and admirer, Tobias Wistar Passavant (nicknamed "The Weed,")to Troy. Brinnie rightly protests that no one knows the location of Troy. Vesper, never one to be deterred by such a minor detail, explains that Troy is now known to be in Asia Minor near the Dardanelles Straits. Tobias has a theory that Greece is not the real cradle of Mediterranean civilization but that Troy is. Brinnie, who has accompanied Vesper on her other many adventures, is not eager to go on one instigated by The Weed. He nevertheless soon finds himself bundled onto a ship with Mary and the two young people sailing toward a mythical city - never suspecting that the unmourned, dead archvillain, Dr. Helvetius, is not. He has not only survived but he controls their movements from the time they step aboard. Dr. Helvetious has two passions - world domination and Vesper Holly. Through a corrupted scholar and archeologist, he guides Vesper and company to his latest dwelling, Xanadu, built to mimic the Coleridge poem. World domination he has in his sights through his monopoly of a new product called "oil," and Vesper is in his clutches.
While Vesper doesn't have an understated bone in her body and flings herself into her final adventure with wit and verve, her author, who obviously loves this character and uses Brinnie as his alterego, is a master of understated humor and irony. Shot through with the author's trademark humor and nonstop action,this final adventure ends on a surprising and touching note. It contains hidden poignancy when this alterego goes where
his author cannot go. |
The Xanadu Adventure (Vesper Holly) Used Books New.