Browsing through the reviews right after I devoured this book, I was shocked to find how lukewarm they were."The Four Seasons" is one of my favorite books this year, and I savored every eloquent sentence of it.It is the story of two sisters in 1700's Venice, Italy, who are taken in by a convent o...
This historical novel's setting is 18th century Venice. Two sisters are abandoned and then taken in by a foundling hospital/musical academy. Chiaretta is a bit rebellious, but beautiful and grows to become a much sought-after singer. She marries into a very wealthy family. Her sister, Maddalena, ...
I don't often read historical fiction so was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story of two orphan sisters in 18th century Venice. The story begins in the Pieta, an unusual orphanage oriented towards musical training at the highest level where Chiaretta and Maddalena, abandoned at birth, must...
Papa’s spirit whispers as I feel him take his place next to Judah and Simona. “Look at what is not there. Don’t be distracted by what is.”Bartolomeu Dias has rounded the bottom of Africa now. If my father were alive, he would no longer have to draw a vague line to the south, nor guess at legends ...
She pulled them out and shook off the water, scarcely noticing how chapped and red they’d become. The chips she ordered each night from the icehouse were already melted, and it wouldn’t be long, on a night now close to dawn, before the water would be too warm to shock her back into wakefulness.Tw...