Scan barcode
A review by book_concierge
Juliet by Anne Fortier
3.0
Audio book performed by Cassandra Campbell.
Julie Jacobs and her twin sister, Janice, were orphaned as toddlers. They’ve been raised by their great Aunt Rose, with the help of her houseman, Umberto. When Rose dies suddenly, her will is a complete surprise that drives a deep wedge between the sisters. Janice gets the house and all the money. Julie gets the key to a safe deposit box and the name of the banker in Siena Italy that her mother trusted. She also gets a new identity … or shall we say her true identity.
Moving back and forth between the 1340 “true” story of star-crossed lovers in Sienna – Giulietta Tolomei and Romeo Marescotti – and the modern day Julie Jacobs’s efforts to find her mother’s legacy, this is a novel that tries to be a romantic epic and a suspense thriller. The result is that it doesn’t quite succeed on either count.
I was pretty caught up in the 1340 story. Although some of the “coincidences” strained credulity, I was willing to go along because it’s a story handed down through generations. But the modern story just irritated me. There were far too many complications, with multiple double-crosses, and triple-crosses. People show up very conveniently and without good explanation. The modern love story was weak. But my biggest complaint is that Julie behaves so stupidly – over and over again.
On the plus side, Fortier did a very good job of putting the action in the city of Siena and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The location is practically a character; it is so vividly drawn and so central to the story. She also does a decent job of keeping the plot moving and building suspense. Cassandra Campbell’s narration on the audio book was very good; her ability to voice the many characters made it easy to keep them straight, especially when dialogue was fast and furious between two or more characters.
Julie Jacobs and her twin sister, Janice, were orphaned as toddlers. They’ve been raised by their great Aunt Rose, with the help of her houseman, Umberto. When Rose dies suddenly, her will is a complete surprise that drives a deep wedge between the sisters. Janice gets the house and all the money. Julie gets the key to a safe deposit box and the name of the banker in Siena Italy that her mother trusted. She also gets a new identity … or shall we say her true identity.
Moving back and forth between the 1340 “true” story of star-crossed lovers in Sienna – Giulietta Tolomei and Romeo Marescotti – and the modern day Julie Jacobs’s efforts to find her mother’s legacy, this is a novel that tries to be a romantic epic and a suspense thriller. The result is that it doesn’t quite succeed on either count.
I was pretty caught up in the 1340 story. Although some of the “coincidences” strained credulity, I was willing to go along because it’s a story handed down through generations. But the modern story just irritated me. There were far too many complications, with multiple double-crosses, and triple-crosses. People show up very conveniently and without good explanation. The modern love story was weak. But my biggest complaint is that Julie behaves so stupidly – over and over again.
On the plus side, Fortier did a very good job of putting the action in the city of Siena and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The location is practically a character; it is so vividly drawn and so central to the story. She also does a decent job of keeping the plot moving and building suspense. Cassandra Campbell’s narration on the audio book was very good; her ability to voice the many characters made it easy to keep them straight, especially when dialogue was fast and furious between two or more characters.