This is the perfect book to review at this time, since I am currently doing research on my family as well as my fiance's. I read this book a little over a year ago and the reason I picked it, wasn't really for the normal reasons I pick a book..the title and the cover. Although, the cover is what attracted me to the book, it was the fact that the book was based in 18th century Italy. I tend to glamourize history, but I have always loved the idea of living back in Italy,France and England from anywhere around the 1400's to the the early 1900's. I am just fascinated by history. Even if it wasn't as fancy as I picture it to be... none the less I love it. So, that is why I picked the book. What made it better was that Lucia was a real Venetian lady and that the accounts in the book were real.
The author Andrea Di Robilant is actually related to Lucia who is is Great-Great-Great-Great- Grandmother (maybe add another Great or two in there). He ended up visiting the family old home in Venice and finding letters that Lucia actually wrote to her Husband, Family and Friends.. and from that he used these letters to tell her story. Andrea Di Robilant starts out by explaining his families history and he does a good job at explaining certain things, but for the most part the story is all Lucia's words.
You may think that the book would be boring and to some it probably is.. you need an appreciation for history and ancestry, in my opinion. However, if you want to give it a try the story is almost that of a Jane Austen Novel. Married young mostly for money, but she loved him... he cheats on her, they have kids, hes gone a lot, she takes a lover, they have a love child... It's a beautiful story about a women living in Venetian Society. The book isn't for everyone, but I most definitely recommend it.
Currently Reading: The Girls of Murder City By Douglas Perry
No comments:
Post a Comment