"When I left La Civetta I did see myself, however grief stricken, as the heroine of the story. I was Jane Eyre fleeing the moors to keep from becoming Rochester's mistress. But hearing he's back at La Civetta, teaching that same class on the sonnet in which he so easily seduced me with a little Petrarch feels like being forgotten.'Dr Rose Asher is a lecturer in Renaissance poetry. As an undergraduate she spent a year in Tuscany at the villa La Civetta and began an ill-fated affair with her married tutor. But when Rose's most gifted student, Robin Weiss, dies in mysterious circumstances - and amid accusations of plagiarism - Rose finds herself reluctantly agreeing to return to La Civetta and face her former lover. La Civetta was once the home of sixteenth century poet Ginevra de Laura. Local legend insists that she is the 'dark lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets. Robin's screenplay suggested Shakespeare's love affair was conducted on Italian soil and garnered Hollywood interest and much professional rivalry among Rose's academic colleagues. But if Robin had discovered proof of Shakespeare's connections to La Civetta, was it a literary coup worth killing for?
This ended up being my least favorite of Carol Goodman's books. All of the others were completely absorbing, but I found my attention wandering while reading this one. I wasn't very interested in the mystery from the past, which revolved around the identity of the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets. The present-day mystery and love story weren't much better; nothing felt authentic. Goodman can do much better.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
17 April, 2009:
Finished reading
-
17 April, 2009:
Reviewed