The Venice Sketchbook: A Novel

Product Information

But I love the little things that make Venice special. All those tiny shops—one that sells just masks, one wooden puppets, one handmade books and marbled paper—how often do they get customers for marbled paper? Another just pens. Who uses lovely pens these days? And yet they were all there when I was last doing my research in 2019.

The Venice Sketchbook (Audio Download): Rhys Bowen, Barrie

was Josh’s manipulation of her—that her son’s shrink said it would be traumatizing for him to fly and the fact that he was now rich and powerful so if it came to a court case she couldn’t possibly win. She feels powerless until Luca gives her new belief in herself. The Venice Sketchbook is 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 Mermaids and The Lost Girls of Devon 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 There are never ending passages that read like a travelogue of Venice which may be of interest to someone who has been to Venice. I have not.Love and secrets collide in Venice during WWII in an enthralling novel of brief encounters and lasting romance by the New York Timesbestselling author of The Tuscan Childand Above the Bay of Angels. Time changes everything. We can never fully revisit those people and places we've kept frozen in still life hovering in chambers within our memories. Did you agree with Caroline's decision to allow her son to stay in the U.S. with his dad? Why or why not?

The Venice Sketchbook – The 52 Book Club The Venice Sketchbook – The 52 Book Club

Their stories are linked, not just by the city, and not just by these two women’s relationship to each other, but also to a family that influences both of their lives.I can’t believe it…this is the first book I have read by prolific writer Rhys Bowen. Although I thought it somewhat fairytailish, after the last few years, maybe it was just nice to escape into a fairy tale, albeit bittersweet.

The Venice Sketchbook: A Novel by Rhys Bowen, Paperback

What she discovers, or who she discovers, is the woman her staid, upright, prim, proper and utterly respectable great-aunt Lettie used to be. A young woman named Julietta, an art student trapped in Venice when Britain declared war on Italy. 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.

I'm a New York Times bestselling mystery author, winner of both Agatha and Anthony awards for my Molly Murphy mysteries, set in 1902 New York City. Overall, it’s a really mixed bag. The premise is good, parts of Juliet’s story are interesting but on the whole story is thin. I had the feeling the author wants to transport herself from her Covid bubble and grabbed a much thumbed Baedeker guide to Venice and bobs your aunt Hortense or Lettie. I don’t dislike the book by any means though I don’t think I’ll remember it and so my rating is in Switzerland with Lettie. I can say with 100%, no with 1000% certainty that I am in love with this book, with every word that I have just read and with author's style! It was my second and I am absolutely sure not the last book by Rhys Bowen that I have read, I would like to discover more books by her. One more time she has proven to me that historical fiction is a great genre and that she is amazing British/American writer. Juliet's "voice" seems so melancholy throughout her story and she has reason to feel that way. After her 1928 visit to Venice, Juliet's plans to attend art college are cut short by her father's financial losses and she must take a teaching job to support herself and her mom, after her father's death. In 1938 and then 1939, Juliet is able to travel to Venice and each time she runs into Leo. It's on what should be her year long visit to Venice in 1939 that Juliet knows she is in love with the married Leo. War is coming closer and closer but Juliet refuses to return to her home where she would be safer.