Virginia's Wild Oats

In the glittering, cash-conscious world of Wynwood, Virginia "Vingie" Lauriston refuses to accept that marriage is the only respectable destiny for a clever young woman. Beautiful, sharp-tongued, and fiercely self-aware, she wants a grand career without surrendering her femininity or independence, and her sparring with Sir Charles Gillespie and the earnest Foreign Office man Rupert Frack sets the tone for a sparkling comedy of manners. Even as diplomatic telegrams, social routines, and romantic teasing collide, Vingie keeps everyone off balance, turning flirtation into strategy and strategy into play. That same blend of wit, politics, and desire carries the story from a secret Balkan loan negotiation at a Dorset cottage to moonlit rose-garden intrigue, where the charismatic Prime Minister Janowicz and Vingie become dangerously drawn to one another. Rupert's disapproval only sharpens the tension as romance and statecraft blur. Later, in Iberia, the novel shifts into high-spirited motor-racing rivalry: Vingie uses her charm to help Jim Andaside's car battle the flashy "Demon Six," while presidents, daughters, suitors, and officials turn business into spectacle. Across love, diplomacy, and speed, the novel delights in social maneuvering, gender games, and the comic peril of wanting too much. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.