I have been to Venice twice and I find the Murano glass quite amazing. I love historical fiction as well and so I thought this book was surely going to be a hit with me...not so much. Firstly, I wonder if the editor of this book actually read it? Many facts just didn't jive or were incorrect; sha...
This is not a book you will be able to fly through. You need to take your time & process all the info the Characters discover on the quest for answers in a painting the prostitute steals.The prostitutes character can be a little grating. She is very crass & very crude. But she is not stupid. It t...
The setting and dual time period aspects of this book are what drew me to read it. But the story did not feel completely fleshed out. The characters fell a bit flat for me. Also, I do wish that she had used a few synonyms for the word PEERLESS. It's sad that her use of that word over and over is ...
I picked up this book as an easy read during downtime while traveling and working. It turned out to be a book I had a hard time putting down. So much detail, so many stories, so much intrigue and interesting plots. With that said, it should have been 2 or 3 separate books. Quite a few times I fel...
I loved this book! I bought it while in Siena, which made reading it so much more real. I was walking on the same streets, in the same contrade, and I witnessed the Palio. If you're reading this and you haven't been to Siena, I'd just like to say that she isn't making the context up. The contrade...
Siena, 1723., Palio:poznata, opasna i teška trka konja. Desetorica jahača, tri kruga oko trga, godina dana priprema, a sve gotovo u hipu.Contrade koje su obilježile povijest Siene i načinile ono što postoji danas:Aquila (Orao)Bruco (Gusjenica)Chiocciola (Puž)Civetta (Sova)Drago (Zmaj)Giraffa (Žir...
Marina Fiorato is an expert in writing what I like to think as adult fairy tales. With each tale she weaves, a different city comes to life in a bygone era and living, breathing characters from the past are given life again. Even the horses in the bookHaving thoroughly enjoyed her previous works,...
He twisted on his pallet of straw, and opened his eyes to horrible visions that marched across the roof of his cell. Fire, screams and Simonetta in danger. He slept at last, but the visions lived then behind his eyes, and he awoke to the grey day with his cheeks wet, in a panic of consternation t...
Today was Ascension Day, the day to celebrate the Virgin’s rise to heaven. I knew well that it was an important day in any town of Italy, but I dare swear that in all my life I had never seen such a to-do made of the day as in Messina. On my way from my civilised home of Padua I had seen the Vene...