The Princess and the Pauper: An Erotic Fairy Tale

In her contemporary retelling of the Mark Twain classic, Davis displays a gift for amusing satire. Internationally adored and envied, lovely Princess Darcy of the tiny kingdom of Perq privately detests both her spouse, Prince Rodney, and the irritating constraints of royal life. Impulsively, she changes places with her lookalike, Shan, an impoverished housewife from Wales. Humorous complications arise immediately, when Darcy must show wifely affection for Shan's husband, Tom, a grimy, uncultured miner who finds her sudden inability to cook very peculiar. But the simple life delights Darcy, and so does Miles, a lusty actor who once courted Shan and has returned to express his ardor. In Perq, tender-hearted Shan finds she loves Rodney, but an evil Libyan arms merchant concocts a fantastic scheme to destroy their ``marriage'' and claim the throne himself. Davis's ( Silk Lady ) antic imagination (even a Welsh sea monster figures in the plot) reveals an assortment of truths, particularly those regarding the mercurial relationship between the sexes. (May)