A Stopover in Venice
By Kathryn Walker
Knopf, 305 pp., $24.95
Fairy tales do come true. Here the princess plucks herself out of her dreary prison and stumbles on a fairy godmother, who invites her into an enchanted wonderland. Instead of scampering mice, there is a charming Chihuahua, who leads the desperate young woman, Nel, to Lucy, an aged countess who lives in a haunted Venetian palazzo.
Married to a self-absorbed rock star, Nel feels she has disappeared into his life. On a European tour, where she serves in his adoring retinue ("the cartoon wife"), she simply takes off. As she predicted, her husband hardly notices. Soon she is whisked away to help unravel a mystery surrounding the frescoes in what was, in the early 16th century, a convent for noblewomen. In searching for the artist who made the frescoes, Nel, along with Matteo (yes, there is a prince), a handsome Italian art conservator, discovers a treasure trove of letters, diaries, precious clothes, artworks, and gems. From these clues, they construct a life for a brilliant young woman who was the lover and wife of the elusive Venetian master Giorgione.
