Customer Reviews

The Rossetti Letter

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PH.D candidate Claire Donovan's thesis focuses on the role courtesan Alessandra Rossetti played in preventing a Spanish Conspiracy to overthrow the Venetian Republic government in 1618. A letter written by Rossetti is the primary source for Claire's paper and related efforts to obtain recognition for the seventeenth century heroine amongst historians.

Cambridge University History Professor Andrew Kent disagrees with Claire's basic premise. He feels the evidence is rather strong that Rossetti abetted the Spanish cause to remove from power the Venetian government. His efforts if proven correct destroy her thesis. Andrew and Claire agree to work together to uncover the truth behind the renowned Venetian courtesan.

Mindful in some ways of Lauren Willig's Eloise Kelly tales, THE ROSSETTI LETTER is a delightful combination historical fiction and contemporary academic romantic mystery. Due to rotating perspective, readers ironically know more about Rossetti and the 1618 Spanish Conspiracy than the history professor and the graduate student. Though some minor subplots like those involving Andrew's Italian girlfriend and Claire's Italian suitor and her chaperoning a fourteen years old teenage "ward provide some insight into their characters, these feel intrusive as the prime theme is for the modern day academic "sleuths" to uncover the almost four century old secrets of what occurred. Overall fans will enjoy this entertaining historiography tale seen through rose colored glasses.

Harriet Klausner

I like historical novels. I don't like romances. I wound up with a copy of this book by accident, and decided to read it on the off chance it would wind up being more of the former and less of the latter. It turned out that my wish was to come true, for the most part: romance is part of the plot, but the story is interesting and very intelligent, and the characters and plot are intriguing, to say the least.

The book opens with the main character, Claire Donovan. Claire's going to grad school, trying to become a historian, and her thesis is going to be on an obscure event in the history of the Republic of Venice--the Spanish Conspiracy, where a group of Spaniards conspired to overthrow the Venetian government and replace it with a Spanish Viceroy. The plot was uncovered by a Venetian courtesan who blew the whistle on the conspirators, and in doing so apparently endangered herself, perhaps even got herself killed. Claire wants to find out more about her, and explore her motives for doing what she did.

The story is built in two threads. First we follow Claire for ten or twenty pages, then we follow Alessandra, the Venetian courtesan, as she learns her trade, plies it, and then is drawn into the conspiracy. As the novel progresses, the two plot threads intertwine just enough to make both enjoyable and interesting. By the end of the book, you're very comfortable with the main characters and fascinated by the outcomes of the plot.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and I would recommend it to almost anyone. It has that Latin-esque feel to it, a bit slow but warm and fascinating, too.

THE ROSSETTI LETTER follows two engrossing stories. First, the young courtesan, forced by necessity into that profession in early seventeenth century Venice and her involvement in the Spanish conspiracy. Second, the contemporary historian Claire who goes to search for the truth of the courtesan in the Venice of today, dragging a troublesome 14-year-old girl whom she must chaperone for the week, finding possible love and wonderful ancient letters and libraries along the way. A mystery slowly evolves along with an old tragic love story and a possible quirky new one. I loved it as a reader and as a fellow novelist -- I am the author of Penguin's MARRYING MOZART.

Like any addictive pleasure, The Rossetti Letter creates a smooth and easy passage away from your everyday life and into a world of fascination and excitement. Putting it down is challenging. Finding excuses to pick it up again and put everything else in your day aside is far too easy.

For those who love historical fiction, this book must be on the top of your reading pile. Same for anyone who loves a good, fast-paced story with compelling characters whose fate you care about. Fans of Venice and armchair travelers get an ample and gratifying dose of that captivating city, and the addiction this story creates leaves me eagerly awaiting Phillips' next book.

I picked this up off of a table of new books at Barnes and Noble, and was extremely disappointed. This book was set in the 17th century and modern times. Alessandra Rossetti was a significantly more compelling character than the modern Claire. This would have been fine if four-fifths of the book was Alessandra, but four-fifths of the book followed Claire. Claire's story was cliched. I simply did not believe that she had finished all of her doctorate but her dissertation in early modern european history, specializing in Venice and could not read Italian with sufficient speed.

Perhaps if you are a fan of romantic suspense this book would be enjoyable. However, at many points I had to put it down because I was frustrated with the plot. I did give it three stars, because I did very much enjoy the 17th century story. If that had been the whole book, I would have given it five stars.

I loved this book. One of those gotta keep the pages turning. Very amusing, deft characterisation, great descriptive passages. Yep, I'm ready to go to Venice now. This was a very good story, loved the touches of humor combined with information about Venice. Great swordfights and the alternating "man" problems between the 17th century and the 21st only confirms my long-held belief that everything changes yet stays the same. I think the author leaves ample room for a sequel and I would love to see how Claire "gets her groove back." Read this!

This book really pulls you into its story. I often found it hard to put down. The Rosetti Letter gives the reader two great gifts: you get treated to an intricately woven and smart mystery, that alone would have been worth the read, but you also are presented with a surprisingly really well researched and detailed glimpse at what life was like back in 17th century Venice. That was a plus. There's two stories. First, you see a progression of events through the eyes of a young Venician courtesan who in 1618 finds herself involved with men from both sides of a burgeoning conspiracy to overthrow Venice. She chronicles about those events and her life. Four hundred years later, these writings become the historical evidence used in the second story which involves a contemporary grad student trying to finish her dissertation on the conspiracy and her quest to determine what really happened. Phillips does a great job of putting you in old Venice and making that world come alive with vivid physical desriptions and well developed characters. It was exciting to advance through the chapters because the story gets more intricate as it progresses and its pace quickens noticeably. It's the kind of book that would make a great movie and I found myself wanting to read more about the characters.

I couldn't put this book down. What a brilliant debut for Christi Phillips.

This book has two story lines. One of a woman in this century (Claire) trying to uncover historical evidence about a young Venitian courtesan's involvement in warning the Venitian government about a Spanish plot to overthrow Venice in 1618. The other story tells of the Venitian courtsean, Alessandra Rossetti's life and involvement in the intrigue.

If you enjoy a good historical romance full of adventure, intrigue, romance and passion, don't pass this book up. It has it all.

Our book club really enjoyed reading this novel. Set in both contemporary and historical Venice, the two stories move together, similar to the way that "Possession" evolves. I brought it on vacation, and had to husband the pages carefully so I had enough left to last the plane ride.

I picked up this book on a whim, and I managed to spend the weekend neglecting my family because I did not want to put down this book. The author managed to hook me on both story lines - the intrigue with the Spanish Conspiracy, as well as the quest of the historians to try to unravel the mystery. Her writing style was intelligent and witty - I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes with the British Historian Andrew Kent and the initial scenes between Claire and her charge, Gwen. I hope this author writes more books - and soon!