The Venice Sketchbook: A Novel

Product Information

A sketchbook, three keys and a final whisper...Venice, a dying bequest by Caroline Grant’s beloved great-aunt Lettie, a wish that will bring Caroline to scatter Lettie’s ashes in the city she loved.... The book description is sufficient so I don’t have to repeat the entire story line here. What I will say is: Q: You've written over 40 books, many of them mysteries for which you've won multiple awards -- Congratulations on your success as an author! What made you switch over to stand-alone historical fiction?

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen - Fantastic Fiction

Caroline’s story (2001), to me, was superfluous and just took up space and I did not care for the idea of cousins getting together. I am an avid fan of Rhys Bowen and have read tons of her books. The Venice Sketchbook seemed formulaic to me with a predictable plot and characters that we have run into time and time again. Lost loves and all that. World War II stories have almost taken over most readers' reading lists as of late. Don't get me wrong. The Venice Sketchbook is still a fine offering from the highly talented Rhys Bowen. Perhaps there is a certain weariness nowadays during these times that have suppressed our mobility and put a damper on our usual desire and zest for life. Perhaps we're searching for something more that catapults us into a different dimension.....far from the pain of the past and far from the shadows of today. Pour a glass of Prosecco, make yourself a plate of tramezzini or some bruschetta, fill a little bowl with olives and let’s pretend we are soaking up the sun on the balcony at Hotel Danieli whilst reading Rhys Bowen’s latest masterpiece, “Venice Sketchbook”. A: I love writing my mystery series. It is comforting to revisit the same set of characters and give them more adventures. I like writing the whodunnit aspect of mysteries, but there were so many other stories I wanted to tell. I have been fascinated with WWII—I suppose because I was born in the middle of it, my father All that’s to say that it feels like parts of this story have been done before, and recently, and perhaps for this reader a bit of World War II historical fiction fatigue has set in. So I found this take on that historic conflict to be a bit too much like too many things I’ve read before, in spite of the change in setting.This was a very enjoyable tale. I do enjoy these dual timeline stories and this one was a bit different from some of the others that I have read. A woman named Juliet heads to Venice on a school class trip with her art students hoping to find some of the magic that she found when she had been there earlier in her life. But it’s not the best time to be traveling as Mussolini is consolidating his power and Hitler is well, doing what Hitler did. Juliet finds her love but she also finds more trouble than she could ever conceive of finding. It should have been fabulous but I'm afraid I found it predictable, slow paced and lifeless. The events covered in the 1939-1943 segment were undoubtedly the more interesting but not enough for me to actually care about the predictable events which unfolded. everywhere. So if you were drafted into the army, you went. You chose to look away when Jewish businesses were trashed. It became a matter of survival and in times of survival people will do anything to protect their loved ones. I found it harder to understand why British aristocrats could want to help Hitler invade England. (The story behind In Farleigh Field, another of my novels). A misguided sense of wanting to save the country from worse suffering, I decided. I wrote Juliet with a secret life. Itmade me think of my aunt although Juliet was much more of a free spirit. Both, in their later years, shut off their emotions.But as a young woman Juliet was hopeful and looked at the world as a wonderful place.Then things went bad as she lost her wealth, father, and hit hard times.In Venice, she is facing a World War.Throughout her life, she has been cheated.” A: All of the festivals that take place are real. The Venetian tolerance for the Jews and then the brutal rounding up by the Germans are all real. The Contessa is typical of a patron of the arts at that time.

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen - The Real Book Club Queen The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen - The Real Book Club Queen

Caroline will travel to Venice on behalf of her great aunt Lettie who has passed away. Caroline wishes to honor her with dispersing her ashes in the lovely city. It's here that we will come upon secrets in the lives of these women. A clever prologue referring to Romeo and Julietsets the stage for Bowen’s…diverting romantic adventure in Venice, complete with intrigue, mystery, and, woe…This novel’s engaging entertainment is enhanced by its dual time line that uncovers Juliet’s secrets, and a plot enlivened by coincidences and romance. A must-read for Bowen fans and historical fiction enthusiasts.” ― Library Journal(starred review) Caroline Grant (2001), young mother, who is trying to accept the end of her marriage and to move forward in her life. When her great-aunt Lettie died she received a task to go to Venice to scatter aunt's ashes and find the truth about Juliet's youth. And as a result of that fatigue I enjoyed Caroline’s side of the story more than I did Julietta’s. I’d rather have seen Caroline actually researching Lettie’s history rather than just reading Lettie’s diary.So Caroline goes to Venice to learn what she can, in hopes of figuring out what compelled Lettie, and to take the opportunity to figure out where her own road will lead her next. In 2001 Caroline’s husband has taken their 6 year old son to New York to spend the summer with him and his new girlfriend. Then the twin towers terrorist hit happened and suddenly the boy is traumatised and cannot travel. Meanwhile Great Aunt Lettie is ailing and calls for Caroline who takes leave from her job and races to her aunt’s side. Aunt Lettie is on her deathbed but manages to give Caroline a garbled message and three odd keys and tells her to go to Venice. The Venice Sketchbookis that rare book, both epic and personal, and utterly compelling. Two women, decades apart, escape to Venice, each forced to grapple with the influence of world events on her own life. This is a tale brimming with secrets, romance, and possibilities, cast against the colorful setting of irresistible Venice. I was utterly captured.” ―Barbara O’Neal, bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaidsand The Lost Girls of Devon Love and secrets collide in Venice during WWII in an enthralling novel of brief encounters and lasting romance by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and Above the Bay of Angels.