Starred review from April 19, 2021
Writing is white high school senior Charlotte’s great love, so receiving a scholarship to a summer writing program run by her favorite author, Luca Bruni, is a dream come true. Its location in Venice is another draw: Charlotte’s ancestor, a poet now known only as a paramour of Renaissance poet Tasso, lived there, and Charlotte wants to know more about her. When she arrives, the workshop is equal parts writing heaven and peer competition. Charlotte, who’s a “polite, anxious sort,” has a writer’s strong observational skills—part of her knows that Luca is inappropriate and invasive; the other part wonders when he’ll notice her. Caletti (Girl, Unframed) links past and present via the through line of men taking advantage of women: confining them to convents, stealing their work, and generally abusing power structures. The incisive and sharply written, place-laden book balances its contemporary #MeToo narrative with Charlotte’s passionate investigation of Renaissance Venice gender politics, and though it’s clear from the start that Luca’s “words will shatter you, but so might he,” watching Charlotte connect past and present while searching for some measure of justice is empowering. Chapter heads reference female Renaissance poets remembered in connection with men. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
Starred review from July 23, 2021
Gr 9 Up-In Italy for an elite writing fellowship, Charlotte, a recent high school graduate, is devastated by the firsthand discovery that her favorite author is using the program to groom and assault female fellows. From the beginning of the book, the narrator makes Luca Bruni's intentions clear before Charlotte herself understands them. This structure means that the plot does not build toward a salacious plot twist-it builds toward awareness, and how that new information is received by Charlotte's family, fellows, teachers, and the literary world that idolizes male geniuses with "complicated" legacies. These writing choices result in a work that is respectful and restrained yet powerful and emotional. While Caletti's book is certainly not the first to address power, grooming, and gray areas of consent (with an additional layer of economic control), it is an extremely effective and layered look at the topic. The introspective and quiet narrative is beautifully written, with rich sensory details and nuanced explorations of sexuality, artistic motivation, loneliness, and jealousy-including Charlotte's self-awareness about her own desire for Bruni's attention. The protagonist's overarching search in Italy for historical information about her ancestor, a female poet, mirrors her reckoning with Bruni's legacy-underlining that the lasting impacts of assault and abuse are not only borne by the survivors themselves, but also by future generations who will know nothing of the beautiful and necessary voices of women who were silenced. VERDICT A first purchase for libraries serving teens.-Susannah Goldstein, The Brearley Sch., New York City
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2021
Charlotte -- a dreamy, tenacious eighteen-year-old from Seattle -- thinks she has what it takes to become an author: largely, "the will and intention of an artist." When she's awarded a scholarship to attend a workshop in Venice led by her novelist idol, literary darling Luca Bruni, Charlotte jumps at the opportunity to develop her craft, make powerful connections, and research her ancestor, sixteenth-century Venetian poet Isabella di Angelo. Sumptuous descriptions bring the cityscape to life as Charlotte basks in both Venice's haunting beauty and (at least at first) Bruni's intoxicating presence; on the side, a cute local-history scholar helps her uncover more about Isabella's fate. Close narration keeps Charlotte's shifting feelings of wonder, enlightenment, and vulnerability at the forefront; the third-person perspective allows readers to see clearly what Charlotte cannot admit about her teacher's predatorily flirtatious behavior toward students. The tension breaks when Bruni turns his attention to Charlotte, and she must finally face the truth about him. The fallout from his advances shatters her literary fantasies and she quits the program, but a discovery about Isabella's history draws Charlotte back to Venice -- on her own terms -- for a quietly triumphant conclusion. Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World, rev. 11/18; Girl, Unframed, rev. 9/20) weaves the lives of these two striving artists together with an expert hand, with chapter headers profiling dozens of real-life, little-known, subjugated female writers from Isabella's era, highlighting parallels in women's -- especially female creative artists' -- stories throughout history. Jessica Tackett MacDonald
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from April 15, 2021
Budding writer Charlotte Hodges has a dream: "to say something that says something." She gets the chance when she spends the summer under the guidance of her idol on his private island in the Venetian Lagoon. Luca Bruni is a kindred spirit: His semiautobiographical writing speaks directly to 18-year-old Charlotte's personal pain. At first, Bruni is charming and brilliant--as Charlotte always expected. Reality creeps in as his true nature slowly emerges: He's a middle-aged, arrogant snob hiding serial lechery behind a mask of empty, performative feminism while preying on the young women who attend his sought-after summer program. Charlotte's dreams crumble when this powerful man who can make or break a writing career sets his sights on her. Third-person-present narration foreshadows the dreadful events to come, giving the story a fairy-tale tone and inspiring readers to absorb every luminous detail as the narrative slows down to describe Venice in gorgeous, flowing prose. Each chapter is prefaced with information about a female poet from the Italian Renaissance who, despite her accomplishments, has been forgotten or is only remembered for her connection to a man. In a subplot, Charlotte investigates one such woman, an ancestor who may have penned a famous poem claimed by her lover as his own. Readers won't miss the parallels between this woman's life and what is happening to Charlotte in the present. Most characters are assumed White. A potent story of how one young woman finds the power to write her own story. (Fiction. 14-18)
COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from April 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Charlotte wins a scholarship to a summer writing program in Venice run by her favorite novelist, the magnetic and brilliant Luca Bruni. She will even be staying at his villa on La Calamita, a private island that once sheltered plague victims. Charlotte also hopes to investigate her Venetian ancestor, Isabella di Angelo, a forgotten Renaissance writer whose book of poetry includes "In Guerra," the world-famous poem by Antonio Tassi. Family legend claims that Isabella was Antonio's lover, and that he published her poem as his own. But with Charlotte's dream comes a dark sense of foreboding she cannot shake. Venice is stunning and learning from Luca is everything she dreamed, but La Calamita feels haunted and Charlotte's fellow students are older. Even as Charlotte meets and falls in love with a young conservation student who helps her search for Isabella, she becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Luca's over-familiarity. When he crosses the line, it shatters Charlotte's faith in herself and her talent. Printz Honoree Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World, 2018) leads her readers through intertwined stories of sexual harassment and misogyny with assurance and a fierce feminism, all while steeping her prose in sensory detail that creates an atmosphere of mystery. In a stunning finale, amid the floodwaters of the acqua alta, Charlotte finds Isabella's truth and, most importantly, the inspiration to persevere.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2021
Charlotte -- a dreamy, tenacious eighteen-year-old from Seattle -- thinks she has what it takes to become an author: largely, "the will and intention of an artist." When she's awarded a scholarship to attend a workshop in Venice led by her novelist idol, literary darling Luca Bruni, Charlotte jumps at the opportunity to develop her craft, make powerful connections, and research her ancestor, sixteenth-century Venetian poet Isabella di Angelo. Sumptuous descriptions bring the cityscape to life as Charlotte basks in both Venice's haunting beauty and (at least at first) Bruni's intoxicating presence; on the side, a cute local-history scholar helps her uncover more about Isabella's fate. Close narration keeps Charlotte's shifting feelings of wonder, enlightenment, and vulnerability at the forefront; the third-person perspective allows readers to see clearly what Charlotte cannot admit about her teacher's predatorily flirtatious behavior toward students. The tension breaks when Bruni turns his attention to Charlotte, and she must finally face the truth about him. The fallout from his advances shatters her literary fantasies and she quits the program, but a discovery about Isabella's history draws Charlotte back to Venice -- on her own terms -- for a quietly triumphant conclusion. Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World, rev. 11/18; Girl, Unframed, rev. 9/20) weaves the lives of these two striving artists together with an expert hand, with chapter headers profiling dozens of real-life, little-known, subjugated female writers from Isabella's era, highlighting parallels in women's -- especially female creative artists' -- stories throughout history.
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)