Hello everyone!
I'm now allowed to watch Christmas movies AND listen to Christmas music, and I can admit I've already taken GOOD advantage of this. After all, I have a heck of a lot to catch up on with Hallmark's countdown!
That being said, however, I still really enjoy picking up books that I may remember reading when I was younger but then unfortunately losing sight of.
This is what happened with me this week.
When I was in high school (and before that, and still later, and today), I tended to devour anything that my local library had to offer. Among those was a series of books about an alternate universe Italy, which I completely forgot about.
Well, no more! Let's start it with City of Masks.
Written by Mary Hoffman and originally intended to just be a trilogy, this was called the Stravaganza series and it covered the idea of people being able to travel between alternate dimensions, in which they found themselves in Renaissance Italy, or Talia as the alternate one is known.
This means that, while readers might be able to recognize certain elements and words in the books proper, there are also just enough changes that it's a believable difference.
Our story begins with a young teenager, Lucien (I think he's about fifteen years old), who lives in London, and is terminally ill; unfortunately, he has cancer, and is bed-ridden. His father brings him many books about Venice, and they include a lovely notebook with interesting markings on the cover. Lucien falls asleep while holding the book, and wakes up in a completely different world.
I'm not kidding, because he's not in London anymore. He's in Bellezza!
An alternate to our Venice, he's arrived the day after an important festival for all Bellezzans, Marriage to the Sea, during which the Duchessa, the ruler of this city state, is lowered into the sea surrounding her home in a sort of 'union'.
What the general public doesn't know is that the Duchessa has been using body doubles for years now - and how is she able to accomplish it? Because she always wears a mask so nobody really knows what she looks like.
The law about masks applies to every girl sixteen or older and unmarried women, but once they marry they're allowed to take their masks off. Everyone knows that.
The general public also knows it's forbidden to be in Bellezza if you're not native to the island the day right after the marriage, which is how Lucien runs into Arianna, a girl about his own age who rescues him, gives him proper clothing, and is annoyed because she wants to become a mandolier and leave the island she's known all her life (as with Venice, there are other, smaller islands around Bellezza).
Having been the only child born on the island in twenty years, Arianna wants people her own age to be around, and adventure, which she stumbles into head-first when she and Lucien go to the mandolier school - where the Duchessa chooses Lucien out of all people!
Luckily, Rodolfo, a scientist and someone who has a bit more intelligence than the average individual, swops in and takes Lucien away, having deduced that the boy is a Stravagante, just like himself. Together, they then embark on a mission to teach the boy everything he needs to know about the brotherhood he now belongs to - the first of which came across from Renaissance England, but while time seems to go by a lot slower in Talia, our world is already in the 21st century.
And there's a bit of a catch.
A powerful family, Di Chimici (a play on the Medicis if you ask me) want to usurp the power of the Stravagantes so they can use it to their own personal gain, another reason why Lucien must be kept a secret - he has no shadow in Talia as he technically doesn't belong in this world, and is easily noticable.
But what neither Rodolfo nor Lucien can foresee is that the boy will get embroiled in the politics of Bellezza sooner rather than later, as he inadvertedly, while breaking a promise to Rodolfo, stays the night in Bellezza and rescues the Duchessa from an assassination attempt ordered by the Di Chimici.
Things don't stop there, of course, as the power-hungry family want to place one of their own on Bellezza's throne, but thankfully one of the doubles the Duchessa used has a big mouth and the ruler can be warned in time - by her own mother no less!
But before ANY of that, Di Chimici try getting to Rodolfo and the Duchessa by another way, finding witnesses to attest Arianna and Lucien were in Bellezza on the forbidden day.
This is where things get even more complicated: the Duchessa reveals Arianna is actually her daughter, and was born on Bellezza proper. Lucien is, at this time, away in any event as his parents take him on a trip to the real Venice, during which time several people in Talia get visions of him.
He does return eventually, however, right for the spectacular death of the Duchessa - though not actually.
Remember the double and the warning from the ruler's mother?
Well, the Duchessa put the double in the room that went kablam (and the assassination was carried out by none other than the double's own fiancé, because he got the story out of her and went to work for Di Chimici and the rest is history), but decided not to reveal her ploy and instead chose to remain "dead", or in this case, alive under her own name, Silvia.
She also finally reveals that Rodolfo is Arianna's father, which calms his mind since he thought she'd been unfaithful, and gives father and daughter a much-needed connection they can build on.
With the Duchessa now gone it's time to vote for a new one, and Arianna is unveiled as Silvia's daughter, giving her an automatic win for the throne, with Rodolfo acting as regent.
But not all is well, sadly - having been abducted by the Di Chimici and forced to stay in Talia too long, Lucien was declared brain dead in his own world and taken off life support. None too soon for the circumstances he finds himself in, as his shadow returns to him in Talia, but he is then unable to return to his own world, forced to live the rest of his life (healthy, but still) in this alternate reality.
Rodolfo hatches a plan - Lucien will have foster parents, will be sent to university, and will continue studying with him while Silvia will be his wealthy godmother/patroness. He also travels to Lucien's time to console the boy's parents, and to bring back something from Lucien's world.
That's right, Lucien CAN still Stravagante - just in the opposite direction! And it's implied that he does so regularly, enabling his parents to see him well and happy.
As for his life in Talia - well, Arianna is confirmed as the new Duchess and now has to wear masks, but she hints that she won't be wearing them for long - that is to say, everyone and their mother can proably guess she and Lucien will be marrying at some point.
But that's a story for another time!
Occasionally given a bit less breathing room for certain scenes than I'd like, this book is easy to read and, if you enjoy an alternate, medieval reality, it should be the one for you. There are five more to read after this and I think I remember reading somewhere there MIGHT even be another trilogy, but who knows? For now, six books in a series is more than enough, so keep an eye out for more Stravaganza reviews on this blog.
xx
*image not mine
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