This book provided me an enjoyable Sunday afternoon escape along the charming canals of Venice with Juliette and her great niece, Caroline, as my tour guides.  This is an easy to read, atmospheric story of love, longing, and kept secrets.  

To Juliette’s family, she appeared to live the quintessential, modest, hard working life of a British spinster.  Oh!  But there was so much she kept hidden away.  It was no secret that she became enamored with Venice on her first trip there as a young woman on the cusp of adulthood.  What wasn’t apparent was how besotted she became with a dashing, young Italian that saved her (and a few kittens) from drowning.  Upon her death, Juliette bequeaths her great niece, Caroline, three keys and a sketchbook, allowing the family their first opportunity to truly get to know her.  

Much of what happens in the story is implausibly coincidental and also utterly predictable.  (Venice is not quite as small of a city as the author would have us to believe.)  But I allowed myself to be charmed by both Juliette and Venice anyway, suspending reality in order to enjoy this book to its fullest.  

Like Juliette, I fell in love with the city of Venice many years ago.  Bowen did a masterful job of taking me back there amongst the birds, bridges, and bells of this floating city.  

Many thanks to Rhys Bowen, Lake Union Publishing, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.