Ciska's Book Chest

The authorAnne Fortier grew up in Denmark and emigrated to the United States in 2002 to work in film. She co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia and holds a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from Aarhus University in Denmark. The story of Juliet was inspired by Anne Fortier's mother, who always considered Verona her true home ... until she discovered Siena. For more information visit http://www.annefortier.com/index.htmlThe synopsisWhen 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. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundations of medieval Siena. 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. It seems that the only one who can save Julie from her fate is Romeo—but where is he?The reviewI really enjoyed this book. Still I only gave it three stars. When I looked this book up on the internet I saw some sites compare it with The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. This made that I became interested in this book cause I simply loved that book. Even though this book has its fair share of history, background and investigation it is not more than half of The Historian. But honestly I am not sure if this story would have been able to grow as big as The Historian cause the point of focus is smaller. If the author would have made it as big as The Historian it could have lost a lot of charm it still had now.I am not really familiar with William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. What I know is what I saw in a movie with Leonardo Dicaprio and though I really enjoyed it I am aware that it has a different approach. Still this was easy to pick up. I did not get the feeling I was missing out on important information by not knowing that story. I probably did miss some references but I am not aware I did.It was easy to connect to the various characters. The only main character I did not really connect to was Umberto. Even not after his confessions. Another thing why I did not give it more than 3 stars, there are some minor flaws in the book. Some story lines need a bit of imagination to hold on to them. Like Alessandro and Juliet and their trust issue and part of the Umberto confession where he has a past with the twins but they cannot recall him. Still I had a great time reading this book. I love stories like this where history is unraveled in something totally different, given an own twist and specially when the main characters have to investigate clues and solve puzzles.