The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Read by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio

7 hours, 57 minutes

Published January 2023 by St. Martin's Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce's girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album--and ends in Pierce's brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa's complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce's murder wasn't just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred--and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge--and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.

My Thoughts: 

Chess is a highly successful self-help guru. Emily is a less successful cozy mystery series writer going through a bitter divorce and far behind the deadline to submit the latest book in the series. When Chess suggests Emily join her in Italy and they can both spend time writing, Emily agrees. And that's about the last time the two seem to really enjoy each other. 

After they arrive, Emily is just not inspired to return to her Petal Blossom character (and who can blame her - what a ridiculous name - even for a cozy mystery series). Instead, she begins reading Lilith Rising, the only published novel by Mari Godwick which became one of the greatest horror novels of all time, a novel Godwick wrote the summer she spent at Villa Rosato and reading the lyrics of Mari's sister Lara's uber famous novel, Aestas. Soon she's obsessed with uncovered the secrets in those works and in the villa itself. And that's when things become very tense between Chess and Emily. 

Between Chess' and Emily's chapters, the story of what happened in 1974 is revealed through Mari Godwick's eyes. That storyline overshadows the contemporary one, in no small part because the reader is playing a game of "I see what you did there" with Hawkins. Mari Godwick = Mary Godwin Shelley; Pierce Sheldon = Percy Shelley; Noel Gordon = George Gordon, Lord Byron; Mari's step sister Lara = Mary's step sister, Clair. Lilith Rising, created on a stormy night = Frankenstein (although with a twist); Aestas = Tapestry (ok that one doesn't link back to the Romantics, but still). 

What's good here? 

• Playing "I see what you did there," although I'd far preferred that Hawkins let the reader figure out the connections without stating them outright. 
• The twists that I was expecting from Hawkins that which she delivered. 
• The readers are great (but I expected that as soon as I saw Julia Whelan was one of the readers). 

Where it fell short for me?

• The relationship between Chess and Emily, even before the reveal that I can't tell you about. 
• That reveal about Chess and Emily's reaction to it. Not believable to me at all.   
• Although Hawkins' use of multiple narrators in The Heiress was one of my favorite things about that novel, in this book the dual storylines (interspersed with passages from Lilith Rising) didn't work as well for me because it felt uneven. 

Reviews are mixed on this one - some readers and reviewers really love it, others felt it could have been better. I fall in that latter category, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth reading - there was plenty to enjoy. 

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

Read by Genevieve Gaunt 

13 hours, 21 minutes

Published September 2022 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. 

Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? 

As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.

My Thoughts: This is one of those books that you hear about and you immediately know that you want to read (especially if you read and really enjoyed O'Farrell's Hamlet). But then you don't get around to it for one reason or another, mostly because there are just so many books to get to every year. But I pick the books for my book club every year and I pick them for several reasons, not the least of which is that they might be a book I've been wanting to read and I can work it into that year's theme. And so I came to The Marriage Plot. 

• I'm sure this is an excellent read in print, but I can't recommend the audiobook enough. Genevieve Gaunt it terrific and it's so helpful to hear how things should be pronounced, the names in particular.
• O'Farrell has taken the portrait of a real woman, about whom very little is known beyond who her family was and who she married, and crafted a wonderful story around it. In the author's notes, O'Farrell explains how she took details about the family's life and wove them into the story in different ways. 
• The book jumps from a forward moving narrative of Lucrezia's life, from her birth until her arrival in the court of Ferrara, and a later point in time when Lucrezia has been moved by Alfonso to a remote fortress where she is certain he is going to kill her. This back and forth creates something of a mystery - is the man who Lucrezia became enamored of as a young girl when Alfonso was betrothed to her sister really the monster she now believes him to be or is this very young woman misreading this man who is doing nothing more than trying to hold his kingdom together. 
• Which brings me to this: you all know how bad I am at predicting what's going to happen in a mystery; so it will come as no surprise to find that I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how Lucrezia was going to get out of trouble, if indeed Alfonso was the monster she believed him to be. So anything was going to come as something of a surprise to me. But what actually happened completely blindsided me. 
• As a child whose mother turned her early upbringing over to a cook because she had no idea how to deal with her and whose nurse turned out to be the only person who ever really understood her, it's not surprising that Lucrezia's story paints a stark contrast between the rich and those who care for them. News flash (not really): the rich don't come out looking too good in comparison to those who care for them. 
•  The Marriage Portrait is a wonderful story that kept my attention throughout and had me listening at times when I normally don't listen to audiobooks. But what really wow'd me about this book was O'Farrell's ability to draw the reader in with all of the senses. You could smell flowers, taste the food, feel the richness of the fabrics, hear the music that Alfonso so loved, see exactly what Lucretia's magnificent wedding dress looked like. I couldn't help but think how much Gretchen Rubin, author of Life In Five Senses, would enjoy it. 

This one's going on the top books of the year list. It was a hit with the book club and I highly recommend it. 

The Surgeon's Daughter by Audrey Blake

The Surgeon's Daughter by Audrey Blake 

Read by Susan Lyons

13 hours, 24 minutes

Published May 2022 by Sourcebooks

Publisher's Summary: 

Women's work is a matter of life and death.

Nora Beady, the only female student at a prestigious medical school in Bologna, is a rarity. In the 19th century women are expected to remain at home and raise children, so her unconventional, indelicate ambitions to become a licensed surgeon offend the men around her.

Everything changes when she allies herself with Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on-staff. Together the two women develop new techniques to improve a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section. It's a highly dangerous procedure and the research is grueling, but even worse is the vitriolic response from men. Most don't trust the findings of women, and many can choose to deny their wives medical care.

Already facing resistance on all sides, Nora is shaken when she meets a patient who will die without the surgery. If the procedure is successful, her work could change the world. But a failure could cost everything: precious lives, Nora's career, and the role women will be allowed to play in medicine.

My Thoughts: 
This is Blake's follow up to The Girl In His Shadow (my review here). When last we left her, Nora Beady was boarding a ship, headed for Italy to study medicine, eager to be in a place where people allowed women to become doctors. 

Unfortunately for Nora, things aren't that easy (of course). It turns out that, while women are allowed to study medicine, the men still show them no respect and make life as difficult as possible for them. Although she finally begins to make friends and allies, Nora is eager to complete her studies early and return home. But the help she receives from a mentor puts her in an even more difficult situation, leaving her more eager than ever to complete her coursework and return home to Horace Croft, the man who raised her, and Daniel, the man she loves. 

But those men are facing their own battles. Horace has always raised hackles for his unorthodox methods and has made an enemy of the head of the hospital where he does paying work. When he decides to expand his own home to create his own hospital, he finds himself deep in financial trouble, trouble he can't get himself out of because of health issues. It's left to Daniel to try to save Horace's dream, the only home Nora remembers, and his own career. 

Like the first book, this one is loaded with high drama and as the troubles mounted, I begin to tire of yet another obstacle placed in the paths of our heroes. Because, let's be honest, we know how this is going to come out in the end, even if we can't imagine how Blake will possibly get us there. Still, I enjoyed the ride, appreciated female characters who fought back against those obstacles, and reading a book that read a little bit like a 19th-century medical thriller. 

Susan Lyons is again the reader and I quite enjoy her reading and her ability to give each of the characters a unique voice. Will there be another book in the series? It's almost certain. After all, Nora and Daniel have not married yet when we end this book and there are no end to the medical situations the group of doctors running the new hospital can battle. If I'm right, it's a given that I'll pick it up. 

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

Read by Carlotta Brentan

14 hours

Published August 2022 by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

Like many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father’s arrest.

Fifteen years later, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won’t speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators. Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can’t escape the studio’s narrow typecasting. And the studio itself, Maria’s only home in exile, teeters on the verge of bankruptcy.

Over the coming months, as the bright lights go dark across Los Angeles, Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European émigrés: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father’s past threatens Maria’s carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her father’s fate—and her own.

My Thoughts: 

Because I did what I so often did, I jumped into this one solely based on the title and author, without regard to the summary. So it wasn't what I expected or even what I thought I was getting in the beginning of the book. 

We begin thinking that this book is the story of the battle between two brothers (the creative force, Artie, and the money man, Ned) who own a studio that puts out B-movies and is in danger of going under. That storyline, as it turns out, is merely the scaffolding that the rest of the book will be built upon. The book, as it turns out, is the story (and backstory) of a group of immigrants whose lives intertwine with the studio. Maria, who came to the U.S. with her mother after her attorney father was sent to confino by Mussolini's government; Eddie Liu, who can't get a leading role until he can because he's allowed to play the bad guy in propaganda movies; Anna Weber, who lost everything when she refused to become the architect of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin; and Vincent Cortese, photographer, who spends all of his life in the U.S. being someone other than who he had been in Italy. 

It's an epic work, that, through Marra's way of storytelling, spans both just a few years and decades, blending humor and darkness. The New York Times reviewer did seem to have an issue with this combination. But isn't that the way of life, that even in the darkest of times, there are things that are humorous? Through its cast, Marra is able to tell a number of stories of war, immigration, propaganda, and racism. There's a lot here to digest and I think it would make a great book for book clubs, in that regard. I did, maybe partly because I was listening (although Carlotta Brentan is very good), sometimes find myself lost as to where the story was and how things tied together. I didn't entirely ever find my way back from that. But even taken as individual stories, there was enough here to keep my interest; and, in the end, I really enjoyed this book and the way Marra ended it. 

Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory

Dark Tides (The Fairmile Series Book 2) by Philippa Gregory

Published November 2020 by Atria Books

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:

Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted twenty-one years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse's poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy—his son and heir.

The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son Rob has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon.

Alinor writes to her brother Ned, newly arrived in faraway New England and trying to make a life between the worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move toward inevitable war. Alinor tells him that she knows—without doubt—that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter.

Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home.

My Thoughts:

I haven't read any of Phillipa Gregory's books since The Other Boleyn Girl. When I got an email about this book, I thought it was time to give her stories another chance. Did the pitch mention this was part of a series? I don't remember. 

I was 100 pages into this book before I realized it was the second book in a series. To be sure, there's plenty of backstory hinted at throughout but Gregory does such a good job of making it seem to be part of the way she wanted to tell her story that it never appeared to be an attempt to catch readers up on a first book. Except...

There are two story lines here, that of Alinor's family in London and that of Ned in the New World. As they summary says, they're brother and sister who write to each other and Ned occasionally sends boxes of herbs. And that is as close as the two stories ever come to intersecting; it was obvious about half way through the book that that would be the case. Alinor's family's story was much more interesting to me and I raced through those chapters, although Ned's might have been a fine story if I were reading it in it's own book. Gregory makes both locations come alive and there are some really terrific characters in both story lines but Alinor's story is the story that has the action and the suspense.

And in the end? Dark Tides is literally the The Empire Strikes Back of this book series. We only ever get the barest glimpse of the entire backstory and the stories more or less just drop off at the end of this book. There may, in fact, actually be more loose ends by the last page as there were at the beginning. 

If you're a fan of Gregory's, I think you'll enjoy this one. And if you've already read Tidelands, I think you won't be disappointed in this next installment of Alinor's story. If you haven't read that one, read it first. 

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and Mama Shepp's Family Recommends

December 21, 2013 - why, yes, that's when Rhody aunt wrote recommending author Elena Ferrante. She had just finished My Brilliant Friend, which she "adored" and recommended to our family's female readers. She was off to check out the rest of the books in the series as well as Ferrante's previous books, including Days of Abandonment. I made a note of the recommendation because she recommended it and because it definitely sounded like a book I'd enjoy. And then I forgot about it, so much so that even when it seemed like every blogger was talking about the Neapolitan novels, I didn't recall the recommendation at all. Until, thanks to 40 Bags In 40 Days, I was cleaning out my email account and found the recommendation and decided it was time to read Ferrante.

My Brilliant Friend (Neopolitan Novels #1) by Elena Ferrante
Published September 2012 by Europa
Source: bought it for book club

Publisher's Summary:
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its protagonists, the fiery and unforgettable Lila, and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflictual friendship. Book one in the series follows Lila and Elena from their first fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.

Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists.

My Thoughts:
Okay, let me just say up front that some people may tell you that this book could be read as a stand alone book. Don't listen to them. Yes, there is something of an ending to this book. But it's also clear that it's merely the end of a chapter in the lives of Lenu and Lila and that things are going to get very interesting in the next novel.

Also, this book series has possibly got the worst covers. They are one of the reasons I didn't pick up these books sooner. Because, it turns out, I do judge books by their covers, no matter how many people recommend the book, apparently.

As it turns out, I should have listened to my aunt three years ago.

I liked this book. A lot. Ferrante makes the neighborhood come alive - the relationships between its denizens, the violence of their lives - but she also makes readers feel the insularity of the neighborhood. It's easy to forget the characters live in Naples and not a small village.

"I feel no nostalgia for our childhood: it was full of violence. Every sort of thing happened, at home and outside, every day, but I don't recall having ever thought that the life we had there was particularly bad. Life was like that, that's all, we grew up with the duty to make it difficult for others before they made it difficult for us...The women fought among themselves more than the men, they pulled each other's hair, they hurt each other. To cause pain was a disease."

I loved the relationship between Elena and Lila. Elena, who's telling us her story, struggles with her relationship with Lila. There is so much about Lila that Elena admires but often to the point that she becomes jealous of it. It's sometimes hard to tell if the girls are even still friends.

"I felt grieved at the waste, because I was compelled to go away, because she preferred the adventure of the shoes to our conversation, because she knew how to be autonomous whereas I needed her, because she had her things that I couldn't be a part of...because, in short, she would feel that I was less and less necessary."

We know from the beginning, as Elena looks back on their relationship, that it will remain rocky. Yet, the two seem to have a bond that cannot be broken. I can't wait to read the next book to see what life has in two for these girls and how their relationship will continue to influence their lives.

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Published April 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: bought this one for my Nook
Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy and Adriana Trigiani

Publisher's Summary:
The fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again—sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate—and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever.


My Thoughts:
This is the fictionalized account of Trigiani's grandparents' love story and it's a story Trigiani clearly loved writing. Her grandfather did apprentice as a shoemaker and her grandmother was a seamstress. Trigiani pulled in her grandmother's love of Enrico Caruso, her own love of opera, and spent twenty years thinking about the book.

The Shoemaker's Wife is a paean to the details and beauty of everyday life. At the same time, it is a sweeping saga that spans an ocean and decades. Trigiani does a magnificent job of bringing a scene to life for her readers, the colors, textures, and smells. It's the kind of book I usually eat up.

So why didn't I love this book?

Perhaps because Trigiani so wanted us to love the book, she wanted us to love the story of her grandparents. She wanted it to be sweeping and beautifully told. Here's the thing - I could see the majesty of those mountains, imagine the bustle of turn-of-the-last-century New York/New Jersey setting, feel the textures of the costumes and hear the glory of the music. But I didn't feel the emotions, not to the extent I should have to feel the pain, the love, the joy of Trigiani's characters. Some of that I attribute to what felt like a need to tell me how I should feel and why, a need to remind me, in some cases, again and again and again. Some of it was that the emotions just got lost in all of the words. Oh so many words. Fifteen discs that could have been twelve or thirteen. The Shoemaker's Wife is a wonderful story, but there's just too much of it.

A word about the narration: Orlagh Cassidy does a wonderful job with the narration, the Italian names and phrases rolling off her tongue. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the narration changed and suddenly Trigiani was narrating. It's her story, I'm sure she knew what she wanted it to sound like. But her voice is just not as pleasant, her style doesn't flow as easily and I didn't enjoy it as much.

A Good Year by Peter Mayle

A Good Year by Peter Mayle
Published June 2005 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Source: my audiobook purchased at my local library book sale
Narrated by Ben Chaplin

Publisher's Summary:
Max Skinner has recently lost his job at a London financial firm and just as recently learned that he has inherited his late uncle’s vineyard in Provence. On arrival he finds the climate delicious, the food even better, and two of the locals ravishing. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it? Enter a beguiling Californian who knows more about wine than Max does–and may have a better claim to the estate.

Peter Mayle

My Thoughts:
I happened to catch the movie adaptation of this last year and was charmed enough by it that I watched it again this year when it happened to be on t.v. Still, despite having the same title as the movie, I didn't put this book and the movie together when I found the book. I just assumed it was another memoir and having enjoyed Mayle's A Year In Provence I imagined I'd enjoy it.

I wasn't far into the first disc before I realized what I was listening to. And this made me very happy. What made me even happier was actor Ben Chaplin's narrating - a British accent always goes a long way with me but he also did a fine job differentiating the voices and with the multiple female voices which is often tough for male narrators. Sadly, this appears to be the only book he's narrated.

Narrator Ben Chaplin

The book focuses much more on the wine produced on the vineyard and the intrigue surrounding it than the movie did which had its focus more an the sexual tension between Max and one of the local lovelies and his relationship with the Californian who showed up on the doorstep of the French property. Perhaps if I'd read the book first, I would have taken exception to the changes made in the movie, but in reverse order they seemed just fine. They probably made for a better movie but they would not necessarily have made for a good book whereas the book was more interesting with a bit of a crime caper as its focus. I recommend both the book and the movie for light fun.

Interestingly, I turned on CBS Sunday Morning this week to discover that they had a story about wine scams amongst wine collectors which tied right in with this book. I had thought of it as simply a plot device but clearly Mayle based his story on fact. You just never know when you'll learn something new in your reading!

Guest Review: The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich - Guest Review

The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich
Published in paperback February 2012 by Gallery Books
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher

I made a terrible mistake at Mother's Day. I had looked at the pile of books my mom had sitting waiting to be read and decided not to give her Catherine The Great by Robert Massie because she already had too many books. Me. I did that. Me, who wishes that people would give me books for birthdays and Christmas despite the fact that I have far more books than I will finish in the next few years. Plus, I had forgotten something about my mom - she's retired. So if she wants to sit down and read all day, she can. When I gave her The Midwife of Venice to read recently, that's pretty much what she did. Because she loved it, I suggested she write a review. Even with a cut on her finger that pretty much relegated her to resorting to the hunt-and-peck method of typing (and if you knew how fast my mom can type, you'd know just how frustrating that was for her!), she had the review for me in a little more than a day. Here's what she has to say about The Midwife of Venice:

When I sit down to read a book, I have several objectives: I want a good story, characters well-developed that come alive and that make me want to know them better and better and create loneliness when they are gone, descriptive phrases to help visualize the environment, and enough fact that I can learn something about the setting.  I am delighted to say that MIDWIFE OF VENICE filled my needs in each of these categories.  For several days after I finished the book (I was so drawn into the book that I abandoned all chores and just read), I thought about Hannah and wanted to know more.

Hannah is an Esthetic Jew living in the Jewish ghetto of Venice in 1575.  She is extremely poor and supports herself by serving as a midwife to the women of the ghetto.  Her husband Isaac has been captured as he set off to make his fortune and is now a prisoner (slave) on the island of Malta.  They parted with cross words so raising the money to earn his pardon is extremely important to Hannah.

Because of her profession, Hannah is used to late-night visitors.  But on this one night she was surprised to find a count and his brother along with the Rabbi at her door.  The count’s wife was in labor and had been for some time.  He wanted Hannah’s help.  The Rabbi forbid Hannah to go.  The rules for the Jews were very strict and she was forbidden to help a gentile.  After much haggling, Hannah finally said she would come with the count for the sum of 200 ducats–the amount she needed for the ransom.  The count agreed, the rabbi was furious, and Hannah was stunned.

She went with the count and took along her birthing spoons–a device she had created to assist in the somewhat unorthodox methods she used as a midwife.  When she reached the count’s home, she found the midwife there and the count’s wife in extreme distress.  She must negotiate carefully with the other midwife and try to save the baby (and if possible, the wife).  This is important to the count who must have an heir to save the fortune from his brothers. 

Hannah finally delivers a healthy son and from this point her life becomes very complicated as both of the count’s brothers try to destroy her, the baby, and all that is dear to both of them.  She is reunited with her sister Jessica who has abandoned her Jewish faith and she and Jessica find a way to help the baby and Hannah.

In the meantime, we also are provided with the life that Isaac is forced to lead as he is sold to Joseph who is cruel beyond measure.  Isaac is saved by a Catholic nun who will help Isaac only if he converts to Christianity.  He refuses and is given back to Joseph.  Isaac is clever and manages to keep himself alive, but barely, on the island.  The money for his ransom comes through but only if he will divorce Hannah which he refuses to do.

To tell more would spoil the story for the reader who will be taken into the ghetto of Venice and discover the rules that dominated, who will become acquainted with the plague, who will learn of intrigue and brutality.

It is an excellent book, well written, and one that captivates.  I am eager to read more of Roberta Rich’s work.  She spins a web and draws a reader into its depths.

Now adding Roberta Rich books to the idea list for my mom for her birthday. Because from now on, I'm not going to pass on giving her a book just because she's already got a pile of books on her nightstand! Thanks, Mom, for another great review!

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Published June 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

A year and a half ago, I took a chance on Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets (my review here) and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually possible to mix a recession, drug dealing and humor in a way that worked really well. I've been looking forward to reading more of Walter's books and was thrilled to see Beautiful Ruins come up as a TLC Book Tour. It probably goes without saying that where I had no expectations for The Financial Lives of the Poets, my expectations for Beautiful Ruins were much higher. It's hard to surprise readers with a second book. We're already expecting a certain level of writing skill, a certain level of storytelling. It's not enough to be a good book; it's got to be at least as good as the last book. Beautiful Ruins is that good and, amazingly, just as surprising as Financial Lives.

In 1962 a beautiful, aspiring American actress shows up in the tiny Italian village of Porto Vergogna to stay at the equally tiny hotel recently inherited by Pasquale Tursi. It's to be a short stop for Dee Moray, while she waits for a friend before heading to Switzerland for treatments for stomach cancer.

"Then she smiled, and in that instant, if such a thing were possible, Pasquale fell in love, and he would remain in love for the rest of his life - not so much with the woman, whom he didn't even know, but with the moment."

Fifty years later, Shane Wheeler is preparing to pitch a movie to producer Micheal Deane. Deane's assistant, Claire Silver is a woman on the edge - to stay with Deane and her wayward boyfriend or cut all ties and move on to a job she's not sure she wants but knows she wants more than what she has. Pat Bender is once again chasing a dream all of the way to Europe while his long-suffering mother is dying of cancer. And Pasquale Tursi is coming to Michael Deane to ask Deane to help him find the woman he can't get out of his mind after all of these years.

The "stars" of Beautiful Ruins are clearly Pasquale and Dee but Walter introduces a large cast of characters that are much more than merely a supporting cast. Walters moves in and out of each person's story, in and out of places and times. It is sometimes confusing, sometimes jarring to leave one person's narrative and move into another decade and narrative. But it works in Walter's hands in a way that it could not have worked in any other way. As the stories began to come together, Beautiful Ruins becomes that book that you'll stay up much too late just to finish.

Authors rarely attempt to do blend comedy into love stories and even less rarely make it work without having it become cutesy. Walter is masterful at it - it feels like real life. After all, don't we all have lives made up of love, laughter and dreams?

"After the funeral, he begged his elderly mother to move to Florence, but the very idea scandalized her, "What kind of wife would I be if I left your father simply because he is dead?"

Jess Walter is the author of five novels, including The Zero, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, and Citizen Vince, winner of the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel. He has been a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN USA Literary Prize in both fiction and nonfiction. His books have been New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR best books of the year and have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in Spokane, Washington

For other thoughts on Beautiful Ruins, check out the full tour. Thanks, TLC Book Tours, for including me on this tour. Now it's time for me to go pick up some of Walter's earlier works.

The Miracles of Prato by Laurie Albanese and Laura Morowitz

The Miracles of Prato by Laurie Albanese and Laura Morowitz
384 pages
Published January 2009 by Harper Collins Publishing
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

In 1457, in Prato, Italy, Fra Filippo Lippi, monk and reknowned artist is teetering on the edge of disaster. His morals are suspect, his spending imprudent and he's definitely taken on more than he can manage. He's taken a commission for a painting of the Madonna but can't seem to find inspiration. Sisters Lucrezia and Spinetta Buti are recently impoverished following the death of their silk merchant father and the slandering of his good name. The only option for them is to become novitiates at the Convent Santa Margherita. Spinetta, who has always planned a life in a religious order readily accepts her fate but Lucrezia is heartbroken to have to give up her dreams of someday being a wife to a wealthy man and a mother. When Fra Filippo, who is the chaplain for the convent, first sees Lucrezia he has found his muse.

Lucrezia's visits to the Fra's bottega draw the notice of powerful people, including the Prior General, who are quick to think the worst of the situation. Things quickly spiral out of control and even the fact that Lippi and Lucrezia have fallen in love cannot salvage the situation.

When I finished this book I surprised to realize that I had not marked one passage with a sticky tab nor had I taken one note. That usually mean that I could hardly stomach the book; that it was not bad enough for me to mark things that I wanted to point out as reasons not to read the book. Which was not the case at all with this book. I liked it well enough but it just never grabbed me.

Morowitz, who is an art historian, clearly knows her stuff and there is a great deal of detail regarding painting techniques, the creation of paints, and the specifics of how various forms of painting are rendered. All of which is a wonderful teaching tool but there is just too much of it; it frequently slows the pacing of the book and distracts rather than enhances.

Although I never became fully engaged with the characters, I did get wrapped up in the story as the tension grew and it became more and more apparent that terrible things were going to happen to Lucrezia and Fra Filippo. But the ending felt rushed for me and a final chapter that threw us many years into the future was a disappointment.

Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti are actual historical people, as are many of the other characters. Albanese has crafted the book around the rumor of their liason and I did enjoy the historical background of the story and the look into the power structure of the time.


Other sites related to the book check out:

• Discussion guide for THE MIRACLES OF PRATO
• Co-author Q&A

As always with TLC Book Tours, you can find a number of opinions about this book. Dar, of Peeking Between The Pages, loved this book and felt the combination of the fact and fiction was seamless. For the other reviews, please check out these sites:

Tuesday, August 10th: Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, August 11th: The Tome Traveller
Thursday, August 12th: English Major’s Junk Food
Monday, August 16th: The Whimsical Cottage
Wednesday, August 18th: Bookalicio.us
Tuesday, August 24th: Passages to the Past
Wednesday, August 25th: Lit and Life
Thursday, August 26th: Life in the Thumb
Monday, August 30th: Rundpinne
Tuesday, August 31st: Drey’s Library
Thursday, September 2nd: The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader