Andrea meets Giustiniana in 18th century Venice, falls in love, but because hes an aristocrat and she isnt, they cannot marry and must carry on a clandestine love affair. If it sounds like a bad Harlequin romance, thats unfortunate because this is a true story based on letters found by Di Robilants father in Venice and Di Robilant herself at, of all places, Randolph Macon College in Virginia. lt;br /gt; lt;br /gt;Di Robilant quotes liberally from the letters and also paraphrases to avoid mundane or dull writing. At a critical juncture, she quotes from letters exchanged with Casanova. Yes, that Casanova. He appears in the story as well. lt;br /gt; lt;br /gt;You find yourself almost literally sitting on the edge of your seat, wondering what will become of Giustiniana and Andrea. He worries that a marriage to her would not be approved by his family, which seeks a profitable union that will further Andreas career. Giustinianas mother, known as Mrs. Anna, is determined to thwart the romance because she doesnt want her daughter tainted by an affair. She has high hopes for Giustiniana finding a good match of her own. lt;br /gt; lt;br /gt;The lovers, meanwhile, cannot be parted. They carry on their affair and exchange volumes of letters. Unfortunately, at a time when we most want to know what happened between them, the letter writing either ceased or the letters are lost. Di Robilant has to guess at what might have been, which is frustrating for a reader. lt;br /gt; lt;br /gt;All in all, a good, quick read made all the more appealing because these are real people in a situation that actually happened.
This was a good book but it did not romance my mind like The Silk Princess, by Penelope Dyan. That was a piece of historical fiction that I simply loved. Ms. Dyan grasps humanity in such a way as to make the time of history come to life, and her understanding of the Chinese people is unbelieveable.
I had very high expectations for this book based on the reviews, my love for this time in history and Venice. I expected it to read more like a novel and it was not. What is was for me was dry and whiney. I finished the book, but considered putting it down several times. I kept thinking there was something redeeming coming, to justify the reviews, but I was left wanting. For me the most remarkable part of the book, was the story of finding the letters on which the book was based. If there was one more page with the main character whining about I love you but cant have you, I might have started to physically gag.
