| 50 Book Pledge | Book #32: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry |
On Monday, June 11, 2012, @HarperCollinsCa launched a new campaign aimed at the reading public called Summer Passport. It’s being described as ”your destination for the greatest globe-trotting book vacation.” Each week all summer long, HarperCollins Canada will “visit a different part of the world through summer reads, delicious recipes, fun contests and book giveaways [and] exclusive content from authors.”
The first stop on this reading adventure is a country I’ve always wanted visit: Italy. HarperCollins has concocted the following trio of books for your reading pleasure:
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.
When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told it will lead her to an old family treasure. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in Shakespeare’s unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse — “A plague on both your houses!” — is still at work, and that she is the next target.
Lush, gorgeous and completely engaging, Made in Italy takes up where Dolce Vitaleft off, giving us a full-on appreciation of all things Italian. Food and style go hand in hand in David Rocco’s world, be it in his television series or his cookbooks, andMade in Italy is no exception. Gorgeous location photography puts the reader right into the scene, offering atmosphere to die for.
Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.
This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?
From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers.
Debut novelist Anne Fortier has written one of the most perfect examples of historical fiction. 14th century Giulietta Tomei and her star-crossed lover Romeo inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Now, centuries later, Julie Jacobs has to explore these family feuds and deep scars while searching for her own personal truth. After a terrible loss, Julie travels to Sienna, Italy in search of a key to her family’s history. Throughout this heroic journey she must seek the truth and expose the lies at every turn. Blending the tragedy surrounding Shakespearean prose with a modern day romance novel, Fortier brings readers a compelling mystery and beautiful love story. The writing is exemplary and Fortier proves herself as a truly gifted storyteller.
Juliet by Anne Fortier
JULIET by Anne Fortier was one of the highly anticipated books at last weeks BEA. I mentioned my anticipation for this book over a year ago right here. This week, Fortier gets a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Anticipation, excitement and having your expectations met: priceless!
Fortier bobs and weaves between Shakespearean tragedy and popular romance for a high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage–and possibly an inheritance–only to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Julie’s hunt leads her to the families’ descendants, still living in Siena, still feuding, and still struggling under the curse of the friar who wished a plague on both their houses. Julie’s unraveling of the past is assisted by a Felliniesque contessa and the contessa’s handsome nephew, and complicated by mobsters, police, and a mysterious motorcyclist. To understand what happened centuries ago, in the previous generation, and all around her, Julie relies on relics: a painting, a journal, a dagger, a ring. Readers enjoy the additional benefit of antique texts alternating with contemporary narratives, written in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling. Fortier navigates around false clues and twists, resulting in a dense, heavily plotted love story that reads like a Da Vinci Code for the smart modern woman.
I am reading an advanced reader’s copy of JULIET and will let you know what I think…stay tuned!
We love keeping track of the deals that are being brokered in the book world. It should be seen as inspiring that new work is still being acquired. If, perhaps, you don’t agree with some of the books that are being published, than it is food for thought. Here is a round-up of the latest deals.
{image courtesy of Amy Sussman}
Star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City Countess LuAnn de Lesseps with Diane Reverand’s CLASS WITH THE COUNTESS: How to Live With Elegance and Flair, a complete course in the art of sophisticated living including contemporary etiquette tips, to Lauren Marino at Gotham, by David Vigliano at Vigliano Associates (World).
The deals keep rolling in for debut novelist Anne Fortier’s JULIET. It recently sold to Universal, with James Mangold and Kathy Contrad (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma) attached to produce and direct, by Rich Green at CAA, on behalf of Daniel Lazar at Writers House.
Sandra Bullock’s sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, recently sold the rights to her debut book. CONFECTIONS OF A CLOSET MASTER BAKER an humorous and edgy memoir (with recipes) of the author’s journey from sugar-obsessed child to miserable, awkward Hollywood insider (she ran her sister, Sandra’s production company) and how she left it all behind to follow her love of baking and open Gesine’s bakery in Montpelier, Vermont, to Stacy Creamer at Broadway, in a significant deal, at auction, by Laura Nolan at The Creative Culture.
John Irving’s LAST NIGHT IN TWISTED RIVER, set in a New Hampshire sawmill settlement, spanning five decades, as the central character and his 12-year-old son become fugitives after a case of mistaken identity, to Louise Dennys at Knopf Canada, in a significant deal; to Alexandra Pringle at Bloomsbury UK, for hardcover publication in October 2009; and to Bill Scott-Kerr at Transworld for paperback, in a major deal, by Dean Cooke at The Cooke Agency (UK/Commonwealth).
Star of Full House Jodie Sweetin’s WILD CARD, about growing up on the set of the hit TV show, her downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse that began when the show ended, and her path to sobriety, to Sarah Sper at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, for publication in 2009, at auction, in a significant deal, by Kirby Kim at Endeavor (NA).
