Venice for Lovers

September 8, 2008
For decades, biographer Muhlstein (Letters from Russia
) and her husband, novelist Begley (Matters of Honor
), have traveled to Venice to spend their summers writing. This evocative collaboration—three short works, which together celebrate their beloved home away from home—translates the original, German edition released in 2004. In the first section, an essay, Muhlstein reflects on how they came to know the city through its people, in spite of the couple's strict, self-imposed rules against making friends during their sabbaticals. Their guides were the owners of the four charming restaurants that became their staples. Particularly memorable is Muhlstein's passage about Ernesto, who describes the devastating flood of November 1966. In the second section, a novella by Begley, the reader encounters Venice from the perspective of an American college student who travels there in pursuit of an older woman. She soon rejects him; however, in romance's stead, a deeper, more lasting affection for Venice and a friendship with a classmate develop. In the third section, Begley writes a treatise on Venice's role in the works of three authors he admires: Henry James, Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann. This triptych of works draws on the best of both worlds: the dazzled, fresh eyes of a pilgrim and the insight of a perennial resident. This book works less as a straightforward guide to piazzas and palazzos than as a stimulant to travels real and imaginary.

Starred review from September 15, 2008
Begley and Muhlstein arehusband-and-wife writers: he a well-received novelist, and she an equally well-regarded biographer. Their Italian attachment is to the city of Venice, la serenissima, as it is referred to in Italian. Every year for two decades, they have taken a two-week holiday in Venice to concentrate on writing as well asabsorb more of Venetian customs and color. She writes about her and her husbands repeated patronage of four restaurants that they have taken unreservedly to their hearts. It is a rich, humorous evocation of Venices draw, andit is matched with sensitive synchronicity to Begleys novella about a young mans love of a woman that is ultimately transferredto a love of Venice. In addition, Begley writes a nonfiction piece addressing the presence ofVenice in the fiction of Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Thomas Mann. Readers who have never been to la serenissima cannot help but feel an incompleteness of soul.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)