The story is multi-layered with a woman in search of her own personality & life. She makes the decision to get off the train heading to Bologna and return to Venice for some on her own during her husband's music tour. A seemingly abandoned dog leads to her a Renaissance palazzo where the owner is excavating a fresco. Searching for the lives of the people who lived there in the early 16th century gives Nel a sense of purpose she has never felt before. Cornelia (Nel) Everett leaves her husband on the train to Verona and returns to Venice, where she rescues a dog, meets some impossibly nice people, and hangs about while they solve an art historical mystery. I thought Nel was a rather insipid creation who spent far too many pages dissecting her marriage. Walker's descriptions often seemed forced and she tended to tell, rather than show. The best part of the book was Clara's diary which, despite purportedly being written centuries ago, had more immediacy and action than Nel's narrative.
travel relationship-dissolution art history romance in Venice. fun, super fast summer reading.
—jay
love the art references and makes me excited for my trip to venice this summer!
—reader001
Wanted something set in Venice to coincide with our trip - this was a fun read.
—Paul
eh--pretty mediocre. not so bad it's offensive but certainly not great.
—shiro
