Wasp, or, A very sweet power

the long version

For a gentleman seeking more prestigious company amidst the seedy bawdy houses of an 18th-century city, the House of Masques provides the perfect no-touch escorts. Girls, highly educated and socially trained, are geisha-like status symbols for politicians, bankers and minor royalty. Into this world comes Bethany Harris, a disgraced governess who has been rescued from a madhouse and transformed into the Masque Wasp. She soon discovers that everyone in the House has a past, and personal horrors, coupled with dark ambition, are leading to a crisis that not only threatens to destroy the House of Masques and everyone in it, but reaches to the heart of government and the throne itself.