History of a Pleasure Seeker, Volume 1: The Gilded Curve

Award-winning Orson (narrated illustrated book app) from Orson & Co: eLit Silver Medals for Historical and Literary Fiction and one of Digital Book Worlds Best Fiction Apps of 2012.

‘The best new work of fiction in many moons’ – Washington Post. DOWNTON ABBEY star Dan Stevens joins a stellar group of musicians, photographers, videographers and coders to bring Volume 1 of Richard Mason’s critically acclaimed HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER to life in a glorious digital edition.

‘A gorgeous confection’ (NY Times), HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER charts a young man’s quest for pleasure and meaning in the Gilded Age.

Piet Barol is 24 years old. Determined to leave his old life behind him, he takes a job as tutor to the ten year old son of one of Holland’s richest men. His new job requires him to walk a tightrope between delight and danger as he learns the secrets of a glittering family, and changes it forever.

HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER ‘ is a provocative joy’, says O Magazine.

In a groundbreaking celebration of the possibilities of a touchscreen device, this Orson edition allows you to:

* Read the story as a beautifully illuminated digital volume, each page laid out and illustrated by hand in the finest tradition.

* Tap any paragraph and have Dan Stevens read to you in a superbly produced audiobook. Step between reading and hearing modes at will.

* Listen to the music of the novel, specially recorded for the Orson by prize winning artists. As characters sing and play the music of Chopin, Bizet, Bach, Mozart and Puccini, tap a music illustration to hear them as you read.

* Look into street scenes of Amsterdam and New York in the early twentieth century.

* See inside the grand house, on the grandest canal in Amsterdam, in which the action takes place.

* Ask Richard Mason questions about the creation of the book and the app.

* Make notes, which you can email or post on Facebook or Twitter from within the Orson.

* Learn about the story’s historical context with essays written by a Yale academic covering topics like the Banking Panic of 1907, Luxury, the history of Holland and Amsterdam, and the Pleasures of the Belle Époque.

* Share your opinions with your friends via email, Twitter or Facebook.

It took 30 people over two years to make this Orson, which allows you to stimulate your senses as never before.


To learn more, visit www.orsonandco.com or www.barol.com.
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