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Summary
Summary
An enchanting debut novel--a fairy tale of sorts. The time is the present. The train is en route to Verona. A young American woman is on an Italian tour with her internationally famous musician husband. In a moment of fury and despair at their lifeless marriage, she drags down a piece of her luggage and gets off the train. Marooned and on her own for the first time in eight years, she returns to Venice, gets a room at the Gritti Palace Hotel, sets out to explore the city, and chances on a group of boys tormenting a small dog, which she rescues and smuggles into the hotel. The following day she is accosted by a man who claims that the dog belongs to his employer. Reluctantly she follows him to a Gothic palazzo and to the dog's owner, an elderly contessa. The young woman becomes faint. The contessa insists that she stay the night . . . What started out as an impulsive act of defiance opens out into an adventure--and a mystery--that summons up centuries of the Venetian past, the discovery of a lost masterpiece, and the heroine's reclamation of herself.
Author Notes
Kathryn Walkerattended Harvard University and was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship. She has appeared in leading roles on and off Broadway and has received an Emmy Award for her performance in the PBS series The Adams Chronicles. She adapted and directed a series of classical Greek productions for the Verse Drama program at the 92nd Street Y and has been an artist in residence at Harvard. She lives in Tesuque, New Mexico, and Washington, Connecticut.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Walker's debut of love, loss, renewal, art and history is set in a sensually realized Venice and follows the physical and emotional wanderings of an unfulfilled wife. While on tour with her famous musician husband, Nel Everett abruptly leaves him after a fight. She ends up solo in Venice, and after a roundabout introduction involving a runaway dog Nel rescues, Nel falls in with Signora Lucrezia da Isola, a countess living in a centuries-old palazzo. The palazzo was once a convent, and the recent discovery of a fresco hidden beneath a plaster wall has brought to the palazzo a coterie of competitive art experts bent on determining who painted the fresco. Nel, meanwhile, is intrigued by a small painting in her room. A trunk discovered in the attic provides evidence that leads Nel and an art conservationist to differing conclusions about who is responsible for the artworks. As the mystery unravels, Nel begins to reassess her marriage and regain some independence. Walker's prose can come across like she's straining to write capital-L literature, but that likely won't scare off the book groups. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Emmy Award-winning actress Walker debuts as a novelist with this love letter to Venice, written in the guise of a romance about an American woman who takes a hiatus from her unhappy marriage. Former actress Nel is touring Europe with her famous musician husband Antony. After an argument, Nel impulsively leaves him on a train and returns to Venice. Taking a walk, she saves a lost Chihuahua from hooligans. The dog belongs to the aging Signora da Isola, called Lucy by friends. Soon Nel has checked out of her hotel, The Gritti Palace, and moved in with Lucy, a gifted gardener who has lived in self-imposed isolation since her husband's early death. Also staying in Lucy's historic palazzo, a former convent, is the handsome Matteo, who is restoring a fresco discovered on one of the walls. Soon Lucy, Matteo and Nel stumble upon a connection between the convent and Giorgione, a brilliant 16th-century painter whose La Tempeste is considered a masterpiece to equal Bellini or da Vinci. A young woman's letters are discovered, then the inevitable diary which describes Giorgione's love affair with a high-born, young Venetian woman named Clara. A talented artist herself, Clara was raised by a wicked stepmother who tried to thwart her talent and her romance. But Clara, who painted the fresco while pregnant with Giorgione's son, grabbed her brief shot at happiness before the Plague cut her and Giorgione's lives short. While Nel and her new friends learn more about Clara and Giorgione, she is increasingly drawn into the sense of community evolving among the art historians and scholars who surround Lucy, in particular sensitive Matteo. Nel occasionally talks by phone to Antony without resolving their unspoken separation. Unfortunately, the novel's conversations and interactions seldom ring true, and Nel, with her pretentious musings, is not likable or believable. Only by skipping the plot and dialogue may Venice-lovers find kernels of pleasure in the physical/sensual description of the city's history, art, food and architecture. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Walker's debut novel is an intriguing mix of romance, art history, and mystery. Fans of Tracy Chevalier will be drawn to Walker's blending of past and present as she tells the story of Nel, a young woman on tour in Europe with her husband, Antony, a famous musician. Frustrated with her marriage and a life that has become drab, Nel gets off the train they're taking to Verona and returns to Venice. There she rescues a small dog, an act of mercy that leads her to the dog's owner, a countess, handsome Matteo, and past mysteries. As Matteo painstakingly uncovers a beautiful fresco in the countess' home, Nel reads the diaries that turn up in a back room and tell the story of the nuns who once ran a hospital there during the time of the plague. Intrigued by her new friends, a discovery that could shock the art world, and a love story that has survived the ages, Nel begins to understand what she actually wants out of life.--Boyle, Katherine Copyright 2008 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Nel, an American, is traveling through Italy with her famous pianist husband when she suddenly despairs of her life and gets off the train. They had just left Venice, an enchanting place, but her husband's self-absorbed notoriety had not allowed her to enjoy it. On her own for the first time in eight years, Nel travels back to Venice and rents a room. A lost dog brings her to a chance meeting with its owner, an elderly contessa who has recently discovered a hidden fresco in her house. When Nel expresses interest in the painting, the contessa invites her to stay at her palazzo and help research the mystery that has arisen regarding the artist, thus giving her time to reflect about her situation. This intriguing debut novel quickly charms the reader into a magical world where a lost masterpiece and trunks filled with centuries-old clothes and books can be found in excellent condition, where a strange foreigner would be invited to live with an elderly woman, and where an unknown artist could be discovered by everyday heroes such as these turn out to be. Recommended for public libraries.--Kellie Gillespie, City of Mesa Lib., AZ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.