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A review by powellki
Color Song by Victoria Strauss
Did not finish book.
4.0
I have to admit this book intrigued me with both it's setting and characters. Set in 15th century Venice, Color Song proves to provide both an interesting cast of characters.
Giulia, a young woman who burns with a passion for painting, found her way in the harsh lifestyle of the Convent of Santa Marta when she was allowed to paint in the workshop of Maestra Humilita. With the death of the Maestra however, Giulia finds herself cornered from all sides by the new Maestra and the world for the coveted recipe of the colour Passion Blue, a paint colour that is supposedly more brilliant that any other blue in the world. With the hard colour's recipe only known by first Maestra Humilita and then by Giulia herself, things seem to be at a desperate ending for Giulia with the threat of being expelled from the workshop in the Convent.
In desperation, Giulia latches onto Gianfranco Ferraldi, a painter in Venice that her former Maestra had chosen to befriend. When the threat becomes too great to remain within the walls of the Convent, Giulia makes the most desperate decision that she can...to dress as a boy and try to pass herself off in a world that frowns upon women.
Strauss's writing is deceptively simple, the combination of words sweeping readers away into another world entirely. A quick read and a good one, I highly recommend lovers of Young Adult novels that focus on history and something beyond Eros (romantic love).
Giulia, a young woman who burns with a passion for painting, found her way in the harsh lifestyle of the Convent of Santa Marta when she was allowed to paint in the workshop of Maestra Humilita. With the death of the Maestra however, Giulia finds herself cornered from all sides by the new Maestra and the world for the coveted recipe of the colour Passion Blue, a paint colour that is supposedly more brilliant that any other blue in the world. With the hard colour's recipe only known by first Maestra Humilita and then by Giulia herself, things seem to be at a desperate ending for Giulia with the threat of being expelled from the workshop in the Convent.
In desperation, Giulia latches onto Gianfranco Ferraldi, a painter in Venice that her former Maestra had chosen to befriend. When the threat becomes too great to remain within the walls of the Convent, Giulia makes the most desperate decision that she can...to dress as a boy and try to pass herself off in a world that frowns upon women.
Strauss's writing is deceptively simple, the combination of words sweeping readers away into another world entirely. A quick read and a good one, I highly recommend lovers of Young Adult novels that focus on history and something beyond Eros (romantic love).