This is a leisurely, contemplative stand-alone novel that
will be too slow paced and too much
dependent on an interest in 17th-century opera and court intrigue to attract a
lot of readers. The main character, Catarina
Pellegrini, a Venetian musicologist, is working as a researcher in England when
she gets a strange invitation to apply for a job that will require her to
return to her hometown of Venice and research the contents of two ancient chests
that may contain valuable items. Two venal relatives of the original owner of
the chests are now vying for the riches that may or may not be inside.
The ensuing search for the rightful heirs allows Leon to do what she does best and that is to immerse the reader once again in all of the pleasures, the food, the history, and the corruption of Venice as it is and was. What is discovered at the end is an enduring truism that is operable in any century and any country. “If enough people choose to believe something is what other people say it is, then it becomes that to them.” The just completed election seems to prove that.
I give it 3 out of 5
Jim De Young, 10/25/24
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