The Lost Diary of Venice

April 20, 2020
DeRoux’s scintillating debut draws inspiration from a 16th-century work of art criticism by the Milanese painter Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo. Connecticut bookstore owner Rose Newlin is instantly attracted to the handsome William Lomazzo, who brings an old book he found in a dead relative’s trunk to Rose’s shop. Rose’s interest in the book—which was written by Gio Lomazzo, William’s ancestor—is piqued because the vellum pages turn out to hold traces of earlier writing beneath the main text. Rose’s restoration work on the underlayer of writing draws her imagination to 1571 Venice, where Gio’s book was published. DeRoux alternates between the present-day possibilities of William and Rose’s budding romance and Gio’s life in Venice, focusing on Gio’s passion for a courtesan, a narrative that emerges as Rose deciphers the book’s faded original text, which proves to be Gio’s diary. DeRoux brilliantly evokes the 16th-century Venetian art world and pays tribute to Gio’s early effort at art criticism, illustrating how “writing about art can be an art form.” This will satisfy bibliophiles and Renaissance art lovers alike. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners.

With subtle variations in intonation and accent, narrator Lisa Flanagan contrasts present-day characters with Renaissance Venetian counterparts in this intriguing and romantic audiobook. William Lomazzo, a married artist, brings an old treatise on art that has been in his family for generations to Rose, a book restorer. As they gradually uncover a hidden text, they realize it is a diary written by an artist in sixteenth-century Venice, Giovanni Lomazzo. Flanagan captures their excitement at the discovery as well as their growing desire for each other. In Venice, Flanagan changes tone as Giovanni falls in love with his model, the courtesan Chiara, even though it's forbidden. Against the backdrops of Venice's war against the Ottomans and placid Connecticut, the two couples follow strangely similar paths. J.E.S. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine