From the bestselling author of the Brunetti crime series comes The Jewels of Paradise, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history and greed and Donna Leon's first stand-alone novel. Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired by two competing cousins to find the truthful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in the composer's two chests that have not ...
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From the bestselling author of the Brunetti crime series comes The Jewels of Paradise, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history and greed and Donna Leon's first stand-alone novel. Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired by two competing cousins to find the truthful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in the composer's two chests that have not been opened for centuries. As she delves into all quarters of his life, from professional to personal, she is drawn into one of the most scandalous affairs of the baroque era. When her research takes her in unexpected directions, she begins to wonder what dark secrets these chests hold and just whom can she trust?
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Add this copy of The Jewels of Paradise to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Grove Press.
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Add this copy of The Jewels of Paradise to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2012 by Atlantic Monthly Press.
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Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
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Add this copy of The Jewels of Paradise to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Grove Press.
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This stand-alone novel is a significant change from Donna Leon?s regular fare ? the delightful Commissario Brunetti and his family. Since Donna Leon?s novels are some of my favorites, at first, it was difficult to accept a book without the delightful Brunetti.
Once I got into the book, I enjoyed the mystery of the (three centuries dead) baroque composer. However, the story just didn?t flow. It seemed as if there were staged scenes, not a continuous story.
After awhile, the concentration on long-dead persons seemed over-blown. There was precious-little about the here-and-now. I didn?t feel that I had enough information about the characters surrounding Caterina Pellegrini to accept they were real.
Usually, Donna Leon makes Venice one of the characters; in this book it was barely a backdrop. Other than learning that there are only 59,000 native Venetians left, I learned little about this amazing city.
Leon has a habit of dropping Italian in her books. I?ve never been as aggravated as this time. She rarely gives an English translation; sometimes one can glean what she is saying from the context. However, THIS time she outdid herself; there were too many times that she used Italian ? and the info was critical to understanding what was going on.
Music must be a passion of Donna Leon?s. I could tell that she was really into the story ? but she didn?t convey that immediacy that she felt about the subject. I found it hard to worry much over a 300 year- old mystery, especially when I learned that the ?statute of limitations? had been exceeded and it didn?t matter who originally inherited. The state was the winner at this point. Suddenly, the plot fell apart for me.
Since reading this book, I?ve really thought about ?Am I looking at this story through the Brunetti lens?? After careful examination, I believe that I was able to make the transition to a new character (if that is what Caterina is). The bald truth is that the story wasn?t that interesting. 3 stars
