The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini: A romance in Venice

 Books set in Italy and Alaska

The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Franco Lucentini

Gregory Dowling (translator)

Published February 20, 2024; Bitter Lemon Press

Genre: travel, Venice, art history, romance, literary fiction

The novel is a love story of a modern day Roman princess who buys art for an auction house and a tour guide, the enigmatic Mr. Silvera, both of whom meet on a flight to Venice. The two share three unforgettable days in Venice,  their passionate affair including touring the canals, streets, bridges, museums and palaces of the city.

I loved this unusual book, the art and historical details of Venice that it gives the reader, and the romance between the two intriguing main characters themselves. Mr. Silvera's background is ambiguous and his wandering life is something he cannot escape. Learned in history, art, languages, he tells the princess that he must leave soon and she will not be able to follow him. Jewish himself, Mr. Silvera likens his life to the story of the Wandering Jew, who is condemned to wander till Judgement Day. This gives a certain melancholy to the entire book.

The romance between the two people is both heartfelt and tragic. But the book is also about Italian art, the trading of very costly works and the subterfuges and scams used in buying and selling. But overall, it's also a sophisticated love story of Venice. 

The book made me feel as I had visited the city and its surrounding islands in person!

Thanks to Bitter Melon Press and publicist for a review copy 

New books from Soho Crime set in Tuscan, Alaska: 

The Road to Murder by Camilla Trinchieri, a Tuscan mystery

Published March 5, 2024; Soho Crime

The setting in a little town in Tuscany is a big draw for readers of this mystery series. Local food, people, and customs are highlighted. 

Description:

Ex-New York City detective turned amateur chef Nico Doyle is asked by the local carabinieri to help. A woman has been found dead in her home, slumped over her piano, and the sole witness speaks only English. Nico reluctantly agrees to help Perillo with the case.

I've read several of the other books and am looking forward to this one too. 

 

Big Breath In by John Straley, former Writer Laureate of Alaska

Publication: November 12, 2024; Soho Crime

Setting: Alaska 

Description: Delphine, is a retired marine biologist, and a terminal cancer patient. However, she is determined to carry on with life as usual, and sets out to find the missing mother of a young child whom she had observed being harassed by an unknown man. What ensues is a rescue mission across the Pacific Northwest. 

I'm eager to get to the chase, but I'm first reading the first part of the book, which is all about sperm whales and their habitat and habits.

Straley's wife Jan is a marine biologist who specializes in studying humpback whales, while he is a well known writer of Alaska mysteries. 

 

What new books or programs are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

 

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Sunday Salon: Mystery Novels in Translation

 

The Couples Trip by Ulf Kvensler

Published April 2022, Hanover Square Press

Genre and setting: thriller, adventure, northern Sweden 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A group of four travel to the north of Sweden in the fall, for a challenging mountain hike three of them have never attempted before. Jacob is the newcomer who proposes the change to the tried and true hiking location that Anna and Henrik and Milena have taken for many, many years.

Is it the new person to the group, Jacob? Or the challenge of the unfamiliar mountains? Something has turned the hiking trip sour and even dangerous. One of the group, the narrator of the story, seems to become unreliable as time passes and we are left to wonder about the stresses of this group hike.

The characters are well drawn, individualistic, and intriguing, as they travel together under some duress. The descriptions of remote mountains, lakes, and forests in northern Sweden is breathtaking yet adds to the suspense, which builds throughout the book, an unputdownable read. Nothing is predictable in this book's plot. I loved it and, at the same time, hated the stress of reading it.

An astounding suspense novel by a Scandinavian thriller writer from Sweden. 

   

The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Franco Lucentini, Gregory Dowling (translator)

Publication: February 20, 2024, Bitter Lemon Press

Genre: mystery, romance, Venice

Book publisher:

A passionate affair set in Venice between a Roman princess searching for undervalued paintings and a mysterious tour guide. Art shenanigans become unavoidable, but the guide's true identity is the mystery that drives the story. Their passion will last three days, long enough to be exposed to unscrupulous art dealers and scammers passing off worthless paintings as part of a famous collection.

She goes to cosmopolitan parties given by Venetian social and art glitterati. Mr Silvera, a guide whose erudition and distinction sharply contrast with his beat-up suitcase and stain-spotted raincoat, drags his shabby tourists from monument to monument. Around them are the canals and lagoons of Venice, a city which becomes a character in the novel in its own right. Written with elegance and wit, this is an atypical, sophisticated novel of love, crime and social satire worthy of Fellini's Dolce Vita or Sorrentino's The Great Beauty . The novel does have a mystery at its heart – and it concerns the identity of the principal character, apparently a tour guide, but clearly something else as well. 

 Thanks to Meryl Zegarek Publicity for a review copy of this book.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of thejmonth?i

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Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.