The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day

The Mona Lisa Vanishes tells the story of the most remarkable art heist in the early twentieth century.

The story begins first, long ago in Florence in 1503 with the portrait of a young wife and mother, Lisa Gherardini by Leonardo da Vinci, who named the painting Mona Lisa. Five hundred years later, in Paris, France on Monday August 21, 1911 a man who has hidden all night in the Louvre would pull off the heist of the century. He had come to the vast museum on Sunday like any other visitor but when the museum was closing he didn't leave. Instead, he hid himself in closet among the easels and paint boxes. 

He knew it was possible to hide in the Louvre because a few months earlier, a French journalist who believed the Louvre's security was lacking hid himself overnight in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian king. He then published his experience.

The storage closet the thief had hidden in overnight was near the Salon Carre where the most valuable artworks like those from Titian, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci were displayed.  The man emerged from the closet wearing a white smock similar to that of the Louvre maintenance workers. The paintings in the Louvre were not locked down because it was assumed no one would dare steal them. However, they were hung in a specific way that required some knowledge as to how to remove them. The thief had this knowledge and quickly removed the painting from the Salon Carre and slipped into the stairwell. There he removed the Mona Lisa from its antique frame and glass covering. Unlike most paintings, the Mona Lisa was painted on three slabs of wood joined together and it was heavy. To hide it, the thief placed the Mona Lisa under his white smock. After struggling to get out of the stairwell's locked door, he escaped into the Paris morning, taking the Mona Lisa and the doorknob.

At first no one realized the Mona Lisa had been stolen. It was considered inconceivable that anyone would attempt this. The workmen who had walked through the Salon Carre only an hour earlier that Monday morning, now saw a blank space on the wall. But they believed the Mona Lisa couldn't be stolen so they did nothing. Even on Tuesday morning when Brigadier Maximilien Alphonse Paupardin, the guard in charge of the Salon Carre, noticed the Mona Lisa missing, he assumed not that it had been stolen, but that the Louvre photographers had it. At this time, the Louvre was photographing its collection and the photographers often removed and returned paintings without telling anyone.

Louis Beroud, a painter who enjoyed painting the copyists as they worked in the Louvre, would be the man who discovered the Mona Lisa was missing. Beroud arrived at the Louvre with the intention of painting a girl working at the Mona Lisa. He was told by Brigadier Paupardin that the painting was being photographed. However, when the painting didn't show up, Beroud became impatient and asked Paupardin to find out when the Mona Lisa would return to the Salon Carre. But when Paupardin spoke to the photographers in the Louvre studio, they were puzzled and did not know what he was talking about.

With Theophile Homolle, the director of the Louvre in Mexico, a panicked Paupardin informed the curator of Egyptian antiquities, Georges Benedite. However, Benedite believed the Mona Lisa was simply somewhere in the Louvre. A search did not find the painting and Georges Benedite was forced to call in the Paris police. Soon all of Paris knew the Mona Lisa was gone. What was the heist of the century would capture the attention of Parisians, French citizens and the world for months and remain unsolved for two years.

Discussion

The Mona Lisa Vanishes is "...a story about how a strange, small portrait became the most famous painting in history...about a shocking theft and a bizarre recovery." But as Nicholas Day aptly demonstrates, "...it is also the story of another way of looking at the world --clearly, plainly, without assumptions or expectations."  - the way the painting's creator, Leonardo da Vinci did. This is in contrast to the way the French police viewed their world, and therefore how they investigated the theft of the Mona Lisa.

After introducing the theft of the Mona Lisa, Day takes his readers back into the past, to the story of how the Mona Lisa came to be painted. It is a story that begins with Leonardo da Vinci, born at the height of the Renaissance in 1452, in Vinci. Leonardo is sent to apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio, a Florentine painter and sculptor whom he soon surpasses in ability. His angel in the painting, The Baptism of Christ was so sublime that Verrocchio quit painting. Leonardo develops a new technique called sfumato in which the artist blends objects and people rather than outlining them in paintings. Unfortunately, Leonardo is often unable to finish works he is commissioned. He eventually would receive the commission to paint Lisa Gherardini, the wife of  Francesco Del Giocondo, a successful silk merchant and trader. His problem is that Leonardo is not just a painter but an observer of the world.

From entries in his notebooks, it is evident that he is obsessed with the world around him. His mind is on fire with questions and the quest to find answers through observation and study. This information is not necessary for his art, but this mindset means it is almost impossible to finish the commissions he receives, including the Mona Lisa. However, "...it means he sees the world without being blinded by what he thinks it is already going to be. He doesn't have assumptions about what something is or what it means. He doesn't leap to conclusions. His highest values are observations and experience..." As Day aptly demonstrates, this is in marked contrast to the way the Paris police proceed in their attempt to recover the Mona Lisa.

Interwoven with the story of Leonardo, his life and his painting, is the story of the Paris police's inability to solve the theft and recover  the Mona Lisa. Solving crimes is new to police work in the early twentieth century. Louis Lepine, head of the Paris police had begun standardizing police procedures. Helping him was Alphonse Bertillon, a pioneer in the new field of forensics. Bertillon, a temperamental man, had developed a method of identifying someone using body measurements - known as anthropometry. His system, used throughout the world, was difficult to implement consistently. A newer technique of fingerprinting to identify a person was just coming into practice. Bertillon had two important leads in the Mona Lisa heist: a fingerprint lifted from the glass pane of the painting, and the knowledge that the thief likely worked in the Louvre.

However, unlike Leonardo da Vinci, Lepine and Bertillon did not have an open mind, instead working on assumptions. "It was the opposite of observation, the opposite of how Leonardo would have wanted the Mona Lisa theft investigated. Unlike Leonardo, Bertillon and Lepine didn't start with the world. They started with what they assumed the world to be." Lepine assumed that because the crime was not a bloody, violent one, it meant that the heist was the work of a "superior class of thief." Lepine was looking for either a professional gang or a consummate professional thief like Adam Worth. One theory held that a rich American had paid a professional thief to steal the Mona Lisa. In 1911, many Americans who had made their wealth during the Guilded Age were eager to showcase that new wealth and to do so they purchased the art of famous painters from Europe.  It was because they worked from assumptions and theories like this, rather than observations, that Lepine and Bertillon were unable to solve the heist.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes is not just a story about the theft of the Mona Lisa, but a biography of the the great Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci. Day also explores the world of the high Renaissance, while contrasting it with society and the art world in the early twentieth century. Readers will also learn how the Mona Lisa heist changed the public's perception of art and artists .Day's account is informative and definitely engaging, as he weaves his narrative back and forth between Leonardo's life leading to the painting of the Mona Lisa and the desperate attempts to solve the heist in the twentieth century. 

There are black and white oil on paper illustrations that will appeal to younger readers. However, inclusion of photographs, for example the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, of Pablo Picasso, Alphonse Bertillon and Vincenzo Peruggia would have added significantly to Day's telling. Other times, an image of a painting being discussed would have been very helpful. For example, Day writes about Pablo Picasso's painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and how this painting changed art, beginning a new movement in modern art. Without an image to consider, readers are left to imagine what Day is explaining, or to use Google. A map of Italy and France, showing the location of Florence and the Louvre would also have been useful.

Day does include an extensive list of sources at the back, confirming what readers will most definitely already know, that The Mona Lisa Vanishes is a well-researched book about a heist that is largely forgotten outside the art world. Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

Book Details:

The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day
New York: Random House Studio      2023
278 pp.

Brothers In Arms by Susan Hood

During World War II, Poland was invaded first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. Men, women and children fled south to Allied army training camps located in the Middle East. In Persia (now called Iran) one of these refugees "met a little boy holding a mysterious sack." This is where our story begins.

It is April 8, 1942 in the mountains of Persia, where a young woman named Irena, her mother and a lieutenant among the many travellers met a young boy holding a sack containing a bear cub! The bear cub enchanted Irena and so the lieutenant gave the boy some coins to purchase the cub.

However, the cub was full of mischief, stealing food and keeping them awake at night. Irena knew the cub, a Syrian brown bear, would grow to be over five hundred pounds! She knew she would not be able to keep him.

In August, 1942, Irena encountered Polish soldiers and their general who had fled from the Nazis in their country. They too were refugees and orphans. The brown bear helped with soldier morale and so the general agreed to adopt him. They named the bear, Wojtek (Voy-tek) which means "happy warrior." Wojtek did almost everything the soldiers did: he rode in the jeeps and marched upright alongside the soldiers. 

When the  Polish soldiers regrouped at Gedera where there was an Allied training camp, Wojtek accompanied them. In September 1942, Wojtek had formed a close relationship with one soldier, Corporal Piotr Prendys, who was nicknamed "Mother Bear". The bear loved to cuddle up in bed with Prendys, who had become separated from his wife in children during the war.

Wojtek had an enormous appetite and soon grew to be very large. Two teenage soldiers soon became his best friends. One soldier later stated that Wojtek was very sociable and kind. Eventually, a dalmation named Kirkuk was added and the two animals spent much time playing together.

In June, 1943, the soldiers were in Iraq. Wojtek struggled to cope with the intense heat and often like to shower with the men. He even once surprised an enemy spy hiding in the showers. The man revealed that they were planning to raid the camp and fearing he would be fed to the bear he gave up the names of his accomplices!

In September 1943, the Polish soldiers moved to another camp where they were reunited with Wojtek's friend, Kirkuk. Both animals were stung by a scorpion and became seriously ill. Sadly Kirkuk did not survive.

In January, 1944, the soldiers travelled to Egypt and then onto a boar, the MS Batory to travel to Italy. However, the British Admiralty would not allow Wojtek, a bear to sail. The Polish soldiers knew that Wojtek would not be able to survive on his own, so they came up with a unique solution: they enlisted in the Polish II Corps, 22nd Artillery Supply Company! 

From this point on, Wojtek became a very important member of the company, not just helping with morale but even helping the soldiers. 

Discussion

Brothers In Arms is an informative picture book about the famous Syrian brown bear, Wojtek, adopted by a group of Polish soldiers during World War II. Young readers can find out more about these real events, by exploring the sections at the back of the book, Photos of Wojtek and Friends, a Timeline of the events mentioned in the book, Maps of Wojtek's Travels, as well as sources to explore Wojtek's story. 

 

Award-winning author, Susan Hood interviewed a number of individuals including Barbara Alicia Janczak, granddaughter of Anatol Tarnowiecki, the lieutenant who purchased the bear cub for Irena Bokiewicz,  Dr. Andrzej Suchcitz a historian at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, and Wojciech Narebski, the only surviving member of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company.

Hood explains the context of the story in her Author's Note at the beginning, describing how the conflict in Poland led to refugees streaming into the Middle East. There is also a list of the major characters in the story so readers will understand how they are connected. With the stage now set, readers can follow events through the years of the war, as Wojtek grows from a cuddly bear cub to a playful adult bear and finally to a soldier in the Polish artillery where he helped his fellow soldiers!

Helping with the storytelling, are the colourful illustrations by artist Jamie Green who used Procreate to create the digital illustrations. Older readers are encouraged to follow the story with Soldier Bear by Dumon Tak.

Book Details:

Brothers In Arms by Susan Hood
New York: HarperCollins Children's Books      2022
48 pp

Just A Girl: A True Story of World War II by Lia Levi

Just A Girl tells of Lia Levi's war-time experiences as a Jewish girl growing up in Italy.

Six-year-old Lia lives in Turin, Italy with her parents and her two younger sisters, Gabriella and Vera. Lia is terribly shy, so shy that her voice sounds like the peep, peep, peep that a baby bird might make. On a trip to the beach, her parents send Lia to buy a newspaper, even though she is so young. They hope to force her to talk to other people.But when she gets to the stand, Lia finds her voice is simply too quiet and the man behind the counter at the newsstand doesn't hear her. So she leaves the money on the counter and runs off with a newspaper. But when she shows up without the change, her parents take her back to the newsstand. There the man makes her father pay again, claiming he never saw any money.

Lia learns that she will no longer be attending school because Mussolini doesn't want Jewish children in Italia schools. This puzzles Lia who wonders why he would care. But her father explains "...that sometimes blaming someone else is also a way of keeping people quiet." 

Then Lia's parents announce that she will be able to attend a new Jewish school close to their synagogue. Also attending is Lia's older cousin Annarosa who helps protect shy Lia from being bullied. At the Jewish school the students and their families celebrate the Passover dinner. To help her overcome her shyness, Lia is taken by Maestra Ginetta to where the rabbi is seated and made to sing the answers to the four questions recited on Passover. By singing them, Lia finds her voice and never loses it!

Eventually, Lia's papa loses his job. This is worrisome for Lia's family but her mother tells her that they have savings to help them get by. Then war comes to Italy. One day while in the public gardens in Piazza Carlo Felice with Maria, Lia and her sisters hear Mussolini on speakers declaring war. After that, Turin is bombed, a very frightening thing for Lia and her family.

Lia and her family leave Turin when their savings run out and her father finds a job in Milan  This will be another stop on what will turn out to be several more stops as her family struggles to stay safe and free during the war. Their travels will take them from Milan to Rome and then to a Catholic boarding school outside of Rome, in the countryside. Through it all, Lia keeps her sense of humour and begins to mature into a strong, intelligent young girl.

Discussion

Just A Girl: A True Story of World War II is based on the experiences of journalist and author, Lisa Levi during World War II. In 1994, Levi published a memoir for adults about her experiences as a child in Italy during the war: Just A Girl is an adaptation for younger readers.

Just A Girl is one of the few books written for very young readers, introducing them to the Holocaust in a gentle and informative manner. Along the way Lia Levi explains events and cultural practices that her younger readers might not know or understand. For example, she explains what being Jewish means and what Passover is. Levi explains concepts that young children might take literally, such as "losing" your job. The author also explains in simple terms about the war. "On one side there were the Germans (commanded by a very bad man named Hitler, who hated Jews even more than Mussolini did), and on the other side there were the French, the British, and others, who had joined the war to make the bad people lose." Later on, Levi adds an explanation to help children understand that not all people are bad. "First of all, I need to tell you something important. In the war that I'm telling you about, the Germans were the bad guys. But you must not thing that being German makes someone a 'bad guy'. Like all the people in the world, there are kind and very kind Germans and bad and very bad Germans. At the time of our story, the German soldiers were under the orders of the very evil Hitler, and they willingly carried out the bad things they were ordered to do." 

Levi's experience is a good starting point to introduce young people to the Holocaust because as she mentions the last chapter, A Letter From The Other Side Of The Ocean, she was one of the lucky ones who escaped both deportation and death. She writes that although her childhood was "difficult, and sometimes stormy" it was not an unhappy one. Although Lia had to move many times, was separated from her parents and eventually had to hide as a Catholic student in a Catholic convent, she and her sisters were relatively very well of compared to Jewish citizens in other countries.

The title of the book comes from something Lia's mother told her after the war. Lia had written a letter to the radio station in the hopes of winning a prize. Her letter opened with "Dear radio, ...I am a Jewish girl..." When her mother read Lia's letter, she tore it up. Lia's mother tells her, "You're not a Jewish girl....You're a girl. Just a girl....You're Jewish, but that's something personal. It doesn't need to be a label you wear on your forehead." Her mother tells Lia that being Jewish is just one of many facts about herself, ones that she does not have to divulge to anyone, and that she has the same rights as everyone else. In her note at the back, Lia tells her young readers that the Nazis turned religion into race.

Just A Girl is a wonderful starting point to introduce younger readers to the Holocaust. In this regard, it is a very important book, given that approximately thirty percent of young people today have no knowledge of the Holocaust. In some respects, this is not surprising since it was eighty-three years ago that World War II began - almost three generations ago. Young people have no parents (like myself) or grandparents (like my children) to talk to about the war or the Holocaust. Books like Just A Girl, museum exhibits and memorials are all we have left to remind today's young people that hate can lead people to do to terrible things. 

Book Details:

Just A Girl: A True Story of World War II by Lia Levi
New York: HarperCollins     2022
135 pp.

Bartali's Bicycle: The True Story Of Gino Bartali, Italy's Secret Hero by Megan Hoyt

Gino Bartali had pedaled through the crowded streets of Florence, Italy, all his life. Then he began training to enter bicycle races. He cycled along the coast and up steep mountains. Over the span of eight years, Bartali pedaled in races all over Italy, earning trophies and first place ribbons. In 1938, Bartali won the biggest race in the world, the Tour de France. This made him a hero but Bartali considered himself just a cyclist. 

In 1938, the world began to change in Italy and all over Europe.  Eventually, all of Europe was at war. A dictator told that world that Jewish people were not human and must be rounded up and arrested. For Bartali, this idea was shocking since many of his friends were Jewish. His friends were good people and came from many walks of life. His good friend, Giacomo Goldenberg was Jewish. Bartali refused to believe this lie.

War soon came to Florence, Italy. Bartali watched as children were loaded onto trucks, and families were not allowed to work, perform in concerts or even live in their own homes. Bartali decided he had to do something to help these people.

Bartali was summoned by Archbishop Elia Dalla Costa. He was asked to help out by delivering special packages containing fake identity papers to people hiding in cities all across Italy. The new identity papers would allow these people in hiding to escape to neutral Switzerland.

Bartali hid the papers in the hollow bars of his bicycle and acted as a secret courier for the Italian resistance. But he also acted as a distraction at the local train station, allowing the resistance to place Jewish families onto train cars heading south out of Italy to freedom. 

When Bartali learned that the soldiers were searching for his friend, Giacomo and his family, he decided to hide them in his basement. Eventually Bartali was drafted into the Italian militia, meaning he would be working for the enemy. But he used this opportunity to find where prisoners were being hidden. One time he entered the Villa la Selva and walked out with forty-nine English soldiers.

By 1944, Italy was being bombed and his beautiful Florence was a battle zone. But eventually the enemy were defeated, the Goldbergs were free along with the rest of Italy.

Discussion

Few people have heard of Gino Bartali and his work to help the Jewish people in Italy during World War II. That's because Bartali did not believe in speaking about his actions. He felt such heroic actions should remain secret. Bartali told his son Andrea many years later, "...You must do good, but you must not talk about it. If you talk about it you're taking advantage of others misfortunes' for your own gain." It was due to this attitude that the truth of Bartali's work during the Second World War remained a secret until 2010.

Bartali was born in Ponte a Ema, a small village south of  Florence, in 1914. He was the third child in the Bartali family, having two older sisters Anita and Natalina and a younger brother Giulio. When he was eleven years old, Bartali purchased his first bike as a means of transportation to middle school in Florence. Soon he developed a passion for cycling and won his first race at the age of seventeen.

In 1935, at the age of twenty-one, Bartali turned professional and won the Giro d'Italia, a multiple stage bicycle race held in Italy in 1936 and again in 1937. Bartali almost gave up cycling when his brother Guilio was killed in a cycling accident in 1936.  In 1940, Bartali was married to Adriana Bani, in a ceremony celebrated by family friend, Cardinal Dalla Costa.

When Bartali won the 1938 Tour de France, he did not dedicate his win to Italian dictator and fascist, Benito Mussolini who believed that the Jews were an inferior race. That year saw the Fascist Grand Council approve measures that stripped Italian Jews of many of the civil rights. In 1940, Italy in alliance with Germany, declared war on France and England.

Bartali was able to avoid serving as a soldier with the Italian army due to an irregular heartbeat and was assigned to be a messenger. In 1943, Cardinal Dalla Costa, who had been hiding many Jewish refugees in his residence, reached out to Bartali with a plan: he would act as a courier bringing false identity papers and photos to Jews in hiding. The papers would be hidden in his bike frame and his training along Italy's roads provided the perfect cover for this. 

As the war continued and Italy became the battleground between the Germans and the Allies, races were cancelled and Bartali could no longer use his training as a disguise for his resistance activities. He was taken in for questioning, but was freed when his army commander vouched for him. After the war, Bartali continued racing and won the Tour de France once again in 1948. He retired from racing at the age of forty.

Hoyt's picture book describes all of the most important aspects of Gino Bartali's life to the end of World War II including the contributions he made to the Italian resistance's work of hiding and saving Italian Jews. Strangely, Hoyt never mentions Hitler by name, instead calling him a "powerful leader" while German soldiers are labelled "enemy troops". Perhaps this is done to remind us that hatred and racism can come from any country. 

The detailed, colourful illustrations, rendered in pencil and digital colour by Iacopo Bruno give life to the events described in Hoyt's text.

In her Author's Note at the back, Hoyt elaborates on how Bartali's contributions came to be known. Bartali was part of DELASEM (Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants) which was a Jewish and Italian resistance organization. It's Florence network was headed by Archbishop Dalla Costa, Giorgio Nissim who was Jewish, and Rabbi Nathan Cassuto. It was Nissim's diaries, discovered by his sons after his death, that detailed the work of Bartali. The organization was supported by the Catholic Church, specifically by Pope Pius XII. The author has included a detailed list of Sources for further research, a Timeline of events, a note from Lisa Bartali, granddaughter of Gino Bartali as well as an Author's Note.

Bartali's Bicycle tells the remarkable story of Gino Bartali, famous cyclist, whose courage, and belief in helping others, led him to risk everything to do what was necessary and what was right.

Book Details:

Bartali's Bicycle by Megan Hoyt
New York: HarperCollins Children's Books     2021

Vision Saints Series Part 1

The Vision book series is a series of short biographies of Catholic saints and holy men and women. They were written for children, aged nine to twelve, and published in the 1950's. Because each book is written by a different author, the quality and style of writing varies. Some books are about well known saints like Thomas Aquinas or St. Theresa of Lisieux, while others are about lesser known saints such as Mother Cabrini and Father Damien. With the passage of time some of the books about men and women who led exemplary lives are dated in terms of the person's status in the church. For example, Father Damien de Veuster's cause is now complete and he is a saint whose feast day is May 10th.

Saint Pius X: The Farm Boy Who Became Pope by Walter Diethelm, tells the story of Guiseppe Sarto who became Pope Pius X. Bepi as he was affectionately known, was a poor farm boy who grew up in the village of Riese. This account stresses Bepi's life of holy poverty. As a priest, bishop, cardinal and even as the archbishop of Venice, Sarto gave away everything he had to help the poor.

Guiseppi Sarto was not just concerned about the material needs of people but also about their spiritual needs. While the spiritual director of the seminary in Treviso, Father Sarto diligently instructed his seminarians, leading them in prayer and doing all he could to ensure they would become faithful priests.

As Pope Pius X, he continued his support of the poor, giving away vast sums of money to support orphans and to help educate children. Pius X is most noted for changing the rules regarding the reception of Holy Communion for children. Before his pontificate, children did not make their First Holy Communion until they were eleven or twelve years of age. He was responsible for changing the rules to allow children as young as seven to receive the sacrament as long as they understood what the sacrament involved. Pius X was deeply distraught over World War I which was just beginning in 1914. He died before the war grew to involve most countries in Europe, desolate at the thought that so many would loose their lives.

In St. Helena and the True Cross, Catholic author Louis de Wohl traces Helena's transformation from the ambitious pagan wife of Legate Constantius to the devote Christian mother of her son, Emperor Constantine. Helena is believed to have been a royal princess of the Trinovants and the daughter of King Coel.

The story begins with Legate Constantius tricked into leaving his command in the province of Southern Britain to travel to Rome. Believing the request to come from the new emperor, Maximian, Constantius arrives in Rome to learn this was not the case. His two month journey has allowed a rebellion  led  Carausius and his Roman soldiers to succeed.

Back in Britain, Helena and her thirteen-year-old son Constantine flee north along with Centurion Marcus Favonius to escape the troops of Admiral Carausius who quickly takes control of the province of Britain.

Seven years later, Constantine, now twenty-years-old and his mother Helena are living in hiding in Verulam and still waiting for Rome to reclaim Britain. Carausius has been murdered and replaced by the traitorous Allectus. Then suddenly news arrives that Rome has returned to reclaim Britain. From a stolen report Helena learns that Constantius is leading a large force that has already reclaimed certain areas. She decides to return to their villa in the south.

However, things are not what Helena and Constantine expect. Helena and Constantine learn from Constantius's aide-de-camp, Legate Curio, that Constantius is now emperor over the West (Occident) while Galerius rules over the Orient (the East). Both Diocletian and Maximian ordered Constantius and Galerius to divorce their wives and remarry. Constantius is now married to Emperor Maximian's daughter, Princess Theodora.

A devastated Helena, returns to their house in Verulam with Constantine and Favonius. It is during this period of suffering over the abandonment by her husband that Helena first learns of the Christian faith through a slave. Out of curiosity she decides to see Albanus, a Christian priest who explains the beginnings of the faith to her. Although skeptical at first, Helena eventually comes to respect the Christians and advocate for them when they are persecuted. She begins to find the cruelty of the Romans towards slaves and Christians offensive.

When her son, Constantine eventually becomes Emperor, defeating Maxentius and capturing Rome, Christianity is made the state religion and the old Roman gods are abolished.  Through a series of visions, Constantine comes to believe that the God of the Christians is on his side. Soon after, Helena becomes a Christian. But the ambitious Helena, now elderly woman, is determined to find the one true cross of Christ. To that end, she travels to the Holy city of Jerusalem and begins her search.

In De Wohl's novel, Helena is portrayed as a dynamic character, regal, ambitious and open minded. Her suffering as a result of the abandonment of herself and her son by her husband Constantius opens her to the possibilities offered by the Christian faith. But Helena's conversion is gradual and takes place over many years.

Helena's discovery of the Christ's Holy Cross is also portrayed in this novel. Tradition holds that St. Helena discovered the true cross during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 326 A.D. Christians, now free to practice their religion were able to travel to the Holy Land and Helena undertook this journey with the intent of finding these holy relics. Helena traveled to Mount Calvary where she found a temple to the goddess Venus built by the pagan Romans to prevent Christians from worshipping at the place of Christ's crucifixion. Helen was able to locate three crosses as well as nails and the inscription placed on Jesus's cross. She was able to determine the true cross by having a very ill woman in Jerusalem touch all three crosses. Only one cross, the true cross healed her. In de Wohl's novel, a young boy is cured of a withered arm.

In Father Damien And The Bells, authors Arthur and Elizabeth Sheehan have written an engaging account of Damien de Veuster's journey to sainthood. Damien, who was born Joseph de Veuster, grew up in Tremelo, in Flanders, Belgium. His father was a farmer. Joseph or Jef as he was called, was the youngest in the family and was responsible for tending the sheep.

August and Jef loved to hear their mother read stories from The Lives of the Holy Martyrs and Hermits. After four years of study at the Werchter village school Joseph stayed home to help his father on the family farm. He was a strong young man who loved physical labour. However his father, Francis de Veuster worried about Joseph and believed that he was different and destined for something else. So he arranged for his son to attend the academy in Braine-le-Comte, located in Hainault, southern Belgium so that Joseph could learn French. After that he would learn the grain business to help the family farm.

Meanwhile Joseph's brother Auguste entered the seminary of the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts, taking the name Pamphile.

At Braine-le-Comte, Joseph soon endeared himself to his classmates. But he was a deeply spiritual young man, often spending his nights in prayer. He was beginning to feel the call to a priestly vocation. At this time his sister Pauline entered the Ursiline Sisters in Holland. When his letter to his parents suggesting his vocation was not immediately answered, Joseph mentioned his intentions to Pamphile during one of his visits. His brother suggested he join the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts and eventually that is what came to happen. Upon his entry he took the name of Damien.

In the seminary of the Picpus Fathers in Louvain, Damien's unusual physical strength and good health did not go unnoticed. He practiced many denials, often sleeping on the floor and giving up his portion of meat at meals. In July of 1863, Pamphile learned he was to sail to the missions in Honolulu, Hawaii in October. But it was not to be. Pamphile became ill in October, during the typhus epidemic of 1863 and was unable to travel. Determined to take his brother's place, Damien wrote the Father General asking permission to travel to Hawaii. His request was granted.

This was to set Damien on the path as a missionary in Hawaii and ultimately his life's work with the lepers on Molokai. Father Damien's love of hard work, his unusual physical strength and his compassion for those suffering from what was in his time an incurable disease were to mark his ministry.

Discussion

Overall the quality of these three Vision novels is good. Each writer succeeds in giving readers a sense of what life was like in the time the saint lived. Each book manages to identify for young readers,  the virtues that these holy men and women practiced, and which ultimately led them to lead sainthood.

In the case of St. Pius X, it was his practice of prayer and poverty at an early age that set him on the path to sainthood. He routinely gave everything away he had, including his money, food and even his coat. St. Helena, is remembered for  her work for the church and for the poor and for her determination to find the relics of Christ's crucifixion. In the case of St. Damien, young readers will get a definite sense of how the practice of the Catholic faith was a part of daily life for Dutch Catholics. This holy family produced four religious vocations: his older sisters Pauline and Eugenie became nuns and his older brother Augustus became a priest.

For all three saints the path to holiness took a lifetime. For St. Pius X and St. Damien their faith was nurtured within the family where it was taken seriously and a part of everyday life. For St. Helena her conversion occurred gradually over the course of her life, nurtured by the example of the Christian community. De Wohl suggests that the kindness of Christians towards her situation led Helena to consider the faith, as her gods offered her nothing. She was resistant to conversion because as a Roman citizen she struggled with the manner of Christ's death - his crucifixion. "How could she believe in a God who allowed himself to be crucified, who died the most shameful death, hanging between two criminals?" For Helena, the cross was a barrier to her conversion. Albanus tells her that the cross is the obstacle to most Christians but that unlike the pagan gods, the Christian God has suffered both with us and for us. In de Wohl's account, it is her discussion with Albanus, who relates how trees are central to many pagan religions, that plants within Helena the seed of a desire to find the true cross.

Helena was a woman who did nothing by halves. From Butler's Lives of the Saints we read, "It appears from Eusebius, that St. Helen was not converted to the faith with her son, till after his miraculous victory; but so perfect was her conversion, that she embraced all the heroic practices of Christian perfection, especially the virtues of piety and almsdeeds...."

Many of the Vision books have been republished by Ignatius Press in the last 20 years with refreshed covers that are appealing to modern readers. Excellent for children and teens interested in learning more about specific saints. Suitable also for adults.

Book Details:

St. Pius X: The Farm Boy Who Became Pope by Walter Diethelm, O.S.B.
San Francisco: Ignatius Press   1994
163 pp.

St. Helena and the True Cross by Louis de Wohl
San Francisco: Ignatius Press   2012
158 pp.

Father Damien and the Bells by Arthur and Elizabeth Sheehan
San Francisco: Ignatius Press    2004
168 pp.

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

Blood Water Paint tells the story of painter Artemisia Gentileschi, today considered one of Italy's most talented artists. Artemisia's story, told in free verse is juxtaposed between the stories of the Bible's heroines Susanna and Judith. These stories are told, in prose, to Artemisia by her mother, Prudentia Montone as she lay dying from a fever after giving birth to a stillborn daughter.

Artemisia's mother died when she was twelve years old. Her father Orazio Gentileschi is a mediocre painter for whom Artemisia works as an apprentice, grinding and mixing pigments as well as painting. His shop does commissions of  "Bible tales, some portraits, ancient histories, myths." Artemisia finds it frustrating when she's taken away from her painting to cut up onions for their housekeeper Tuzia who often sends her shopping for linseed oil, and figs and fritters for her younger brothers. But Artemisia is determined to make the most of everything including a shopping trip to the Piazza di Santa Maria where she tries to notice colours and details.

Artemisia feels that her father is not able to portray feelings through his paintings. Although he attempts to lecture her on pigments and perspective, Artemisia knows more than her father is aware. To teach her about perspective, her father hires Agostino Tassi. Artemisia first meets Tassi when Tuzia lets him into the studio while Artemisia is working alone. She is overwhelmed by his large physical presence but she focuses on learning from Tassi. Signor Tassi encourages Artemisia to call him "Tino" which she does only reluctantly. He confirms to Artemisia that he has come to Rome for the Quirinal Palace commission, which Artemisia's father hopes to be involved in.

At this time Artemisia begins the preliminary sketches of Susanna. Although Artemisia needs to learn dual-point perspective before she can paint Susanna, her father wants her to focus on getting Tassi to include him in the palace commission. When Tassi at first declines based on the poor quality of Orazio's painting, Artemisia offers a solution. Her father's name will appear on the works, but it will be she who will do the painting. Tassi appears interested in her proposal.

Later while working on her own painting of Susanna, Tassi stokes Artemisia's frustration over her father. She is moved by his apparent concern for her, especially after he learns that she has been posing for her father. Tassi feigns concern, even questioning Artemisia as to whether her father abuses her. His concern moves Artemisia to kiss Tassi. The next day, on the way to Mass their carriage is stopped on the Via della Lungara by Tassi who insists on riding with them. His request is "a violation of the rules of decency, our code, our social order." Tuzia, who is accompanying Artemisia, does nothing but Artemisia tells him he must not join them. When Tassi persists, stating that Artemisia has a chaperone, Tuzia orders Artemisia to make room for him.

Afterwards, Artemisia finds her thoughts preoccupied with Tassi. He returns to the studio the following day, "a hurricane of energy", telling Artemisia that he is falling behind on the Quirinal commission because he is captivated by her. She has a "horrid father", many responsibilities and a dreary studio. His solution is for Artemisia to come work in his studio. His offer is tempting to Artemisia because she believes she would not have to do many of the menial tasks her father makes her do, but instead might offer her other opportunities. However, she also believes she would always be second in Tassi's studio too. When Tassi visits the next day he continues to press her to move to his studio; "Imagine what you would accomplish in my studio." and "...the things we could do together." To Artemisia, Tassi is speaking about marriage but Tassi has something quite different in mind. When he begins groping her, Artemisia struggles out of his way, telling him to stop.

Tassi returns to the studio, drunk, critical of Artemisia's Susanna. When he gropes her again, Artemisia orders him out of the studio. Instead Tassi, shreds the canvas and leaves, not returning for days. When he does, Artemisia tells him he is not welcome. Tassi warns her that her father is loyal to him and that payment is owed for her lessons. He rapes Artemisia in the studio, her screams are ignored by Tuzia.

Unable to paint or do much of anything after the brutal attack, Artemisia confronts Tassi when he returns the studio. Tassi acts indifferent, ignoring her orders to leave. Between his visits, Artemisia continues to suffer. Tassi again returns to the studio, attempting to win her over again, but this time, inspired by the stories of Judith and Susanna, Artemisia tells him that is going to tell her father. Tassi tells her he merely took what she offered, but Artemisia responds that he also destroyed her father's property - her painting.

Artemisia's father doesn't understand why she can't seem to focus on her work and doesn't know what is wrong with her. She tells him she will take no more lessons from Signor Tassi and when her father admonishes her for ruining their chance at the Quirinal commission, Artemisia tells her father the truth.  Despite her father's warnings about how her accusations will be perceived and how she will be treated, Artemisia insists that her father accuse Tassi. Gaining inspiration and strength from the Biblical heroines, Susanna and Judith whose stories her mother told, Artemisia prepares to face a trial that she hopes will bring her justice. But what little justice she receives will come at a great price.

Discussion

Blood Water Paint tells the story of Artemisia Gentileschi who was raped by painter Agostino Tassi. Artemisia who was born in Rome in 1593, was the eldest child of Orazio Gentileschi  and Prudentia Montone. She was introduced to painting in her father's workshop, mixing pigments, preparing canvases and painting her own works. Her mother died when she was twelve years old. Her brothers were also trained as artists but none showed promise equal to Artemisia. Her father was greatly influenced by the style of Caravaggio and this influence was passed on to Artemisia.

Artemisia specialized in painting women from the Bible and ancient myths. Her first recognized work was Susanna and the Elders which she completed when she was just seventeen-years-old. Shortly after this work, Artemisia was raped by her father's friend and colleague, Agostino Tassi. Tassi had been hired by Orazio to tutor his daughter and she was often left alone with Tassi and his friend Cosimo Quorlis. When Tassi did not act on his promise to marry Artemisia to restore her honour,  her father brought him to trial. Artemisia gave the judge all the required testimony indicating that what happened was in fact rape. Nevertheless, she was tortured to see if her testimony was honest. Tassi was convicted but released by the judge.

After the trial, Artemisia married Pierantonio Stiattesi, an artist from Florence. She also painted Judith beheading Holofernes. Artemisia and Pierantonio moved to Florence where she became a successful painter, whose patrons included the House of Medici and Charles I, King of England. She was the first woman to be accepted into the Accademia delle Arti del Designo. She also lived and worked in Rome, Venice, Naples and London. Her reputation as a Baroque artist eventually surpassed that of her father.

In Blood Water Paint, McCullough uses free verse to imagine the events leading up to rape of Artemisia and the trial afterwards. Interwoven throughout are the stories of Susanna and the Elders from the Book of Daniel in the Bible, and the story of Judith from the book of "the same name in the Old Testament. Artemisia's mother Prudentia begins her stories before the birth of her child. She is not well and fears she is dying. As her strength wanes she seeks to educate her daughter in the dangers she may one day face as a young, attractive woman in a man's world.
"She knew I'd need Susanna
when I found myself
a woman in a world of men.

Girl as prey."

And so Artemisia's mother spends
"the last of her strength
to burn into my mind
the tales of women
no one else would
think to tell.

These stories
of a righteous woman,
her virtue questioned
through no fault of her own,
of a widow
with nothing left to lose..."

Prudentia tells her daughter the story of Susanna, the young, beautiful, virtuous wife of Joaquim who is accosted by two elders while bathing in the privacy of her home. Stunned and terrified, Susanna clutches at a robe to cover her nakedness. The two men  tell her "Today I am your husband. Today I tell you to lower your robe, and if you deny me, the world will hear how the faithless wife of Joaquim cavorted in her garden with a man who was not her husband." Terrified, Susanna refuses even when they threaten her with the certainty of being stoned for adultery. "Susanna could lower her robe to these monsters who believe they can take whatever they want simply because they have the power...But if she does what they ask, she will be dead tomorrow either way. "
The elders lie about what happened in the garden and Susanna is ready to be stoned when Daniel, a respected young leader happens upon the scene. He questions the elders, determines they are lying as their stories are inconsistent and has them stoned. Susanna is freed. From Susanna's story, Artemisia learns to speak her truth, to speak out and let her voice be heard. She learns to be strong.

The other story Prudentia tells Artemisia is that of Judith, whose husband, Malachi died after being sent to investigate how close the Assyrians have come to the Jewish city of Bethulia which they have besieged. Bethulia's rulers have decided to hunker down and wait out the siege, meaning certain death for Judith and her people and rendering Malachi's death a waste. Outraged, Judith formulates a plan and with her servant Abra, travels during the night to the Assyrian camp and into the tent of Holofernes, the captain of the army. There she seduces him and then beheads him with his own sword. Judith and Abra carry Holofernes' head back to Bethulia. The Assyrian army flees, abandoning the siege and Bethulia is saved.                     

From Judith's story Artemisia learns that she is strong, despite the fact that she will be told she is "too small, too weak, too feebleminded to be of use."  Her mother counsels, "The world will tell you not to be outraged, love. They will tell you to sit quietly, be kind. Be a lady. And when they do? Be Judith instead." 

These examples of strong women help Artemisia find her voice to accuse Signor Tassi and to endure a trial in the hopes of achieving justice. Like Susanna, Artemisia's story is not believed. Instead, she is tortured to determine if her testimony is true. Her hands are her life, but Artemisia submits to having thumb screws applied, severely wounding her hands, so determined is she to obtain justice for the rape.

Blood Water Paint is Joy McCullough's tenth novel. It began as a play which was eventually performed in 2015. As she was working on the play over the years, Mc Cullough began to see the possibility of it as a novel that might be of interest to teens.

In light of the recent #metoo movement, Blood Water Paint is a timely novel that asks the reader to consider the many issues surrounding rape and sexual harassment. These include victim blaming, sexual objectification and the trivializing of rape. McCullough also explores how social attitudes about sexuality and gender influence how rape is perceived and how it is treated by the courts and by society in general.

During the trial, Artemisia is treated by the court as though she is the one who has committed a crime. The trial drags on for months with Tassi showing up in court in "showy costumes", his story changing daily. Agostino testifies that she is a whore, "My studio is less for painting than for vulgar rendezvous", love letters are produced, despite the fact that Artemisia cannot write and a list of lovers given - including her father! The judge orders Artemisia examined by midwives for proof that her "pudenda" which in Latin is translated as "parts to be ashamed of" shows that she is not a virgin. The painful examination causes panic in Artemisia who feels like she is being raped again.
"My integrity must be tested
while Agostino smirks,
a man who raped
his wife,
her sister,
possibly even
had them killed."

McCullough, in her retelling of Susanna's story, has her appear ungrateful towards Daniel, questioning him as to what he would have done had the two elders stories not conflicted. Her point is that her testimony of what happened was never considered to be enough to prove her innocence. In the same way, Artemisia's account of what happened was also not considered sufficient. It was only accepted after she maintained her testimony was true under the pain of torture.
"...when I cried out
in the courtroom
like a child.

It's true.
It's true.
It's true."

The theme of contrasting perspectives is developed throughout the novel. The word "perspective" has two meanings, for the artist it is a way of portraying depth and distance but it can also mean an attitude or point of view about something. McCullough incorporates both meanings into her story. At first Artemisia mentions single point perspective, "one vanishing point. The place where all lines parallel to the view converge"' This is a foreshadowing of the violent convergence of Artemisia and Signor Tassi's lives. Although Artemisia knows single point perspective, Signor Tassi is engaged to teach her dual point perspective, something she needs to paint Susanna. Artemisia's paintings of Susanna demonstrate this perspective but there is also another meaning - the dual or two points of view of the events the artwork portrays - that of Susanna and that of the evil Elders intent on raping her.

McCullough contrasts Artemisia's perspective of painting the attempted rape of Susanna with that of men such as her father. Artemisia knows that her father cannot paint Susanna in the same way she can.
"Father's made attempts at Susanna,
just like the other painters - men-
who think they have the right
to tell the story of a woman
always watched.

But one can't truly tell a story
unless they've lived it in their heart."

His version of Susanna is that of a girl welcoming the attentions of the men who have watched her bathe.
"It doesn't matter.
He never listened
to my mother's stories, never bothered
to notice the fear of women.
He'll tell Susanna
just like all the others."
Like the other masters before him who painted this scene, Artemisia's father cannot comprehend "a woman's feelings in that moment."
Their paintings do not reflect the reality of a woman's experience, the feelings that only a woman can know.

"...The way the masters paint her,
the men are monstrous,
creeping, loathsome beasts,
obvious villains.
Yet Susanna wears
a smile that says
she welcomes their attentions."
The masters are perpetuating the myth that a woman who has been raped enjoyed it and indeed may have even encouraged it. Ironically this is exactly the perspective Signor Tassi, a rapist, takes. His "perspective" later on is to question Artemisia, "What was wrong with taking what you offered?"

Blood Water Paint is an interesting blend of poetry and prose, and of storytelling and painting. Fans of historical fiction will find this novel an engaging read while those interested in the social issues surrounding rape, especially from a historical perspective will find McCullough's novel has much to offer. There are many themes, some of which have been touched on here, to further explore.

Book Details:

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
New York: Dutton Books     2018
292 pp.

Love, Lucy by April Lindner

April Lindner has written a story about a young girl coming of age as she experiences her first love and struggles to make her own decisions about life.

Seventeen year old Lucy Sommersworth and her best friend Charlene Barr are backpacking their way through Europe, in the vacation of a lifetime. Lucy's father paid for their flights in exchange for Lucy enrolling at Forsythe University to study business. It's not a major Lucy would have chosen. She's a born actress having landed the leads in almost every school play and summer stage production and dreaming of a career as an actress. Lucy is not good at math and money but she's used to her father pushing his way on her. "All my life he's wanted me to be things I"m not. Like a sports star. Or one of those kids in the Gifted program."

So as to entice her to study something reasonable at college, Lucy's father has bribed her. Not wishing Lucy to travel alone, her parents agreed to pay for both Lucy and Charlene's airline tickets and Eurail passes. The novel opens two weeks into their trip with Charlene upset over their room at the Hostel Bertolini. As of lately, Charlene and Lucy have not been getting along, ever since Charlene left a boy she really liked in Munich. After Charlene marches down to the check-in desk to complain about the lousy view and gets their rooms changed, Lucy meets one of the boys who is forced to switch rooms with her. At first he seems rude and to be ignoring Lucy's attempts to apologize for her friend's behaviour. But when Nello the sweet boy at the check-in desk arrives, Lucy is dismayed to see that the boy, Jesse Palladino, is actually from New Jersey and speaks English. 

Il duomo di Firenze

While they wait for Nello and Jesse to move to another room, Lucy and Charlene meet Ellen who is a travel writer for a guide called Wanderlust. Charlene doesn't want to leave the hostel, so Lucy decides to go exploring beautiful Florence by herself. Although Lucy is grateful to have had Charlene travel with her, their relationship has grown strained over the last few days since they left Munich. Lucy wanders through Florence taking in the shops and the Arno, the river that winds through the city.  The next day while walking to Santa Croce, Lucy asks Charlene if she is still upset over leaving behind Simon, a British guy she met in Munich. When Simon left for Mittenwald, Charlene felt obligated to stay with Lucy despite Lucy telling her otherwise. This causes harsh words between the two girls and Charlene stalks off, leaving Lucy on her own. Lucy wanders through Florence eventually coming to a piazza where she sees Jesse busking. Once she actually talks to Jesse, Lucy realizes he is quite friendly and allows him to show her around Florence including the Piazza del Duomo.

The next day Jesse accompanies Lucy and Charlotte on a picnic at the Boboli Gardens where Charlene reveals that Lucy is a talented actress and singer who gave up her dream in exchange for this trip. Lucy is upset at Charlene telling Jesse this and worries that he will think she sold out because he has decided to forgo college. The following day, on a borrowed Vespa, they tour Florence, visiting the Bargello and the Piazza della Signoria. Jesse tells Lucy what her father made her do was not right. "He made you trade away your whole future? In exchange for this trip you're on right now? That's just not cool." Lucy tries to rationalize her decision but Jesse tells her she has given up on herself. This makes Lucy wonder "was Jesse right? Had she given up on her dreams too easily?" Jesse tries to tell Lucy that it's not too late but she is convinced the deal she made with her father is permanent. They go to Piazzale Michelangelo and then onto an underground club where Jesse plays in a band. He invites Lucy onto the stage to sing and is so impressed that he tries again to encourage her to reconsider the pact she made with her father.

The next day, their final one in Florence, sees Lucy along with Jesse and Charlene visiting Fiesole. In Fiesole, Jesse and Lucy share their first kiss, but the moment is ruined by Charlene and leads to a huge fight between the two girls. That night, their last together, Jesse tells Lucy that he has the rest of the week off and wants to go to Rome with her. They decide that Jesse will try to get on the train with her to Rome but if he's not able to he will take an later train. In Rome they will share a room together.  This means that Lucy and Charlene will go their separate ways and meet up at the airport in Rome.

In Rome, Lucy and Jesse make love and spend their last days together visiting the same sites as Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. They visit the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant'Angelo, Piazza Venezia and even busk together in the Piazza Navona.Their last night together sees Jesse try to convince Lucy to stay in Europe but when she tells him she does want to go to college he tells her to try to make her own choices. They say goodbye, exchanging emails and Lucy returns to the States.

In the fall, Lucy now enrolled at Forsythe University where she rooms with Glory, Britt and Sarah. Still pining over Jesse, Lucy meets a handsome freshman, Shane who also happens to be majoring in business. At the same time Lucy hears from Jesse that he is leaving the hostel and moving to Torre Annunziatia to live with Nello's family. Then one day Lucy sees an ad for auditions for the musical, Rent, "her all-time favourite musical". Her friends debate the ethics of Lucy going for an audition in light of the promise to her father but Lucy decides the next day to sign up for auditions and is stunned when she earns the part of Maureen in the play. Meanwhile things between her and Jesse begin to deteriorate fast when emails between them reveal that Jesse is probably dating Nello's twin sister. Angry over this Lucy sends him a nasty email and lets him know she is seeing someone new.

Lucy remains deeply upset over what has happened between her and Jesse, even more so after her makeup email is bounced back. Her relationship with Shane, who seems so perfect, begins moving faster than Lucy feels comfortable with. Added to this is her father's angry reaction when he learns she has a part in the musical. Can Lucy ever get control of her life and do what she feels is best for her?


Discussion

Love, Lucy like April Lindner's other novels has some identical plot elements of another famous novel, in this case, E.F. Forster's, Room With A View. In Room With A View, Lucy Honeychurch is travelling with her cousin, Charlotte. Their room is unsuitable because of the poor view and one of the hotel's guests, Mr. Emerson, agrees to switch. Forster's Lucy is an accomplished pianist. Lucy has many encounters with Mr. Emerson and his son George, who boldly kisses Lucy after they witness a violent encounter in the Piazza Signoria. Even this event is mirrored in Lindner's story with the violent row between two lovers witnessed by Lucy and Jesse. When they travel outside Florence to the countryside, George again kisses Lucy, shocking her chaperone, Charlotte. The next day they leave for Rome and then return to Surrey, England. In England, Lucy agrees to marry Cecil Vyse but is surprised when the Emersons show up at a nearby villa. George successfully persuades Lucy that Cecil is not the man she should marry and she breaks off her engagement to him. Meanwhile, George's father tells Lucy that the man she really loves is his son, George. Marrying George will go against her family's ideals of class but Lucy decides to do so and she and George marry and return to Florence.

As in Room With A View, Lucy is still Lucy, Charlene takes on the part of Charlotte, Jesse is George and Shane is Cecil. In Love, Lucy, the contrast between Jesse and Shane is not as sharp but Lindner does make a distinction. Meeting Jesse opens Lucy's eyes. He tells her how he has traveled from Amsterdam to Prague, Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Rome and stayed in Italy for a year which amazes Lucy. His decision to live without any set plans amazes her. "No plans? Lucy thought. The idea struck her as peculiar -- how could a person not have plans? -- but also enticing."  Jesse later on openly admits that he's not doing what his parents want him to do (go to college). Lucy tells him that her parents would "flip out" if she did that. Jesse states, "Mine aren't exactly thrilled,"..."But it's my life...They wanted me to go to college, but I told them not to waste their money. They still don't get it. Not everybody needs to go to school. There are other ways to learn about the world."

Later when Lucy becomes involved with Shane despite him being "so gorgeous, so sophisticated, so perfect, really, in just about every way" she struggles in the relationship. Shane is the complete opposite of Jesse, well dressed and punctual.  Shane is obviously well off - he drives a "sporty, silver car" , shows up on time for their dates and is well dressed. Lucy notes his "suede jacket and expensive jeans that set him apart from the other guys she'd met..."  "He's the perfect guy, Lucy told herself for about the thirtieth time that night." And unlike Jesse, Shane's life is all mapped out for him; he's a business major because he's going to work for his father's import business. He tells her, "...I'm not one of those guys who has to rebel against his father just to prove a point,". Instead, having seen what such rebellion has done for his brothers, Shane is the type of guy who takes the easy path rather than doing what he wants in life.

Although Shane seems like the perfect boyfriend, Lucy cannot totally be herself with him. When after their third date and a week into rehearsals he asks her how the play is going, Lucy can't tell him her worries about freezing on stage. "Lucy considered telling him about her terror of freezing up onstage, then decided to let him go on thinking of her as talented and capable." When Shane tells her that he's proud to have a star as a girlfriend, she wonders if he would feel the same way if she turned out not to be a star.

Eventually, as Lucy deep conflict over Shane and Jesse leads her to realize she's not being honest with herself and with both boys. When she can't tell Shane the truth about their relationship she realizes that she's living a lie. "She acted for Shane all the time, trying to seem worldly, glamorous, adventurous, and perpetually upbeat -- all the things she imagined a guy like Shane would want in a girlfriend. She was acting for him now."  No matter what she throws at Shane he's always nice and understanding and this makes Lucy realize that he deserves better. She finally finds the courage to tell him the truth.

Like Room With A View, the main protagonist in Love, Lucy, is forced to grow up and assert herself, instead of allowing everyone else to make decisions about her life. After she clears up her personal love life,  Lucy gradually takes control in other areas of her life  - refusing to quit rehearsals for Rent, even when her father gives her an ultimatum. She finally confronts him, asking him, "I'm going to Forsythe and majoring in business, like you wanted. Why isn't that enough for you? I don't even like business. In fact, so far I hate it...Why do you have to control everything in my life? Why can't I keep this one thing that means so much to me?" Despite her father telling her she's only moderately talented, Lucy's belief in her own ability leads her to perform brilliantly and to eventually convince her father to allow her to continue acting. In the end they reach a compromise.

In keeping with the similarity to Room with a View, Lucy and Jesse return to the same hostel and rent out the same room, this time together.

Interestingly, the most likeable characters in Love, Lucy are the two guys, Jesse and Shane, who although very opposite, are kind and thoughtful towards her. In fact, both boys encourage Lucy to stand up to her father or at least try to talk to him.  Lucy however,  is not a likeable protagonist; she's selfish and very immature as evidenced by how she treats both boys. She sleeps with Jesse after she's known him for less than a week, making it difficult for her to turn down Shane despite her conflicted feelings towards him. Her father is equally annoying, pompous and overbearing, manipulative, rigid and controlling.

Lucy's situation with her parents is not an uncommon one. Some parents who are able to pay for their children's university, and within certain cultures, there is an expectation that children will study what the parents choose for their child. As a librarian I've seen situations where a young person wants to work as a photographer or an artist, but are told no funds will be forthcoming unless that child studies medicine or a science discipline. It is not the job of parents to choose their children's occupation in life. It is our duty to guide them and advise them.

There are lots of other themes to explore in this novel, for example the choice between love and duty. Lindner makes several references to the 1953 classic film, Roman Holiday, where a European princess spends 24 hours with an American reporter and falls in love with him. She has to make the choice between her duty to her country or to follow her heart.

Love, Lucy will appeal to those readers who enjoy a romance mixed with travel. And who doesn't love a romance set in Italy!

Book Details:

Love, Lucy by April Lindner
New York: Little, Brown and Company      2015
290 pp.

BBC Documentary: Pompeii: The Mystery of People Frozen In Time

Narrated by Margaret Mountford, this documentary seeks to answer two questions: How exactly did the people of Pompeii die and why are their bodies so beautifully preserved. Mountford's is shown around the amazing ruins of Pompeii by Paul Roberts, Head of the Roman Collections at the British Museum.

Unlike many historic volcanic eruptions, Pompeii provides a very unusual archeological setting; the casts of Pompeii preserved real people which makes them unique.

The eruption began on August 24, 79 AD, heralded by a powerful earthquake in the morning. At 1pm Vesuvius erupted violently. A huge column of ash 14 km high was pushed into the atmosphere. It became dark as night and pumice, ash and chunks of solidified lava began to rain down on the city. In less than one hour, the column was 32 km high. It was thought that the ash was responsible for killing the people of Pompeii by causing them to suffocate. This was based on the statue of a muleteer with his hands covering his face which was seen as evidence that the people suffocated by ash. But this interpretation was questioned by some including Dr. Peter Baxter or Cambridge University who felt that the sitting posture of the man did not suggest suffocation?
If they didn't die from the ash, what did cause their deaths and the unusual positions of many of the people in death?

Body cast of muleteer

Herculaneum, a smaller city of five thousand to the west provided the clues. Herculaneum was a city of mainly very wealthy Romans who holidayed there. It was closer to Vesuvius and therefore felt the eruption much more strongly. There were very few human remains found and it was assumed the population of the city fled in time. However, in the 1980's a group of sheds near the harbour were discovered. In these sheds and in their vicinity during excavations, some 300 skeletons were discovered. Dr. Pier Paolo Petroni states that based on the condition of the skulls, which are fractured and blackened inside, there is evidence that these people were subjected to very high temperatures, high enough the cause their brains to boil and explode. Their bodies were reduced to skeletons. Like Pompeii there was no lava found in Herculaneum, suggesting a very different kind of eruption.

Pliny the Younger, a Roman magistrate was a witness to the eruption of Vesuvius. His letters to the historian, Tacitus, describing the eruption in great deal have provided geologists and archeologists with valuable information on the eruption. Twelve hours after the initial eruption, Vesuvius was still spewing forth large volumes of ash and gas. Pliny wrote about a great mass of material which swept down the mountainside. His description was not fully understood until the eruption of Mount St. Helen's in 1980, in which a pyroclastic flow, of approximately 700 C flowed horizontally for 10 km, destroying everything in its path. It appears Herculaneum and the people in the the boat sheds experienced a similar event during the Vesuvius eruption.

One of the casts in Pompeii is that of a woman with her arms raised. It was thought that this woman was defending herself against an attacker but now it is understood that her position is characteristic of a person who was killed by intense heat, causing her to raise her arms, with the arm muscles contracting permanently in this position which she remained after death. Could there then have been a second pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius that reached Pompeii? And if so why are the remains of the people there so different from those found at Herculaneum?

Pompeii: The Mystery of People Frozen in Time is a fascinating reconstruction of this historic disaster that has captured the imagination of archeologists and the public for decades. The reconstruction of the faces of two people who died in the disaster put a human face on this tragedy that occurred two thousand years ago.

Domenic's War by Curtis Parkinson

In this post I would like to review a book I just read entitled, Domenic's War by Curtis Parkinson. This book is fiction but the author arrived at the idea for the story after listening to a friend recount his experiences as a teen in Italy during World War II. The story deals with a specific time frame, that is the Allied campaign to remove the German Army from the monastery of Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino was a German stronghold and a barrier to the Allied army's move northward into Italy and ultimately up towards the rest of Europe. Parkinson's novel focuses on events in two (fictious) teens lives, Domenic Luppino and Antonio. Domenic lives on a farm and courageously helps his father during the War, while Antonio has a more difficult time as a young man who has lost everything and is forced to work for the Nazi's.

I felt that this YA novel presented an accurate portrayal of the physical hardships and emotional distress encountered in an occupied country during WW II. It also touches on the controversial bombing of the beautiful and sacred monastery of Monte Cassino where the tombs of Benedictine founder, St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholastica are located. The Afterword contains information on the mind-boggling numbers of soldiers from various countries who died in the battle for Monte Cassino as well as information on the Allied strategy.

This book would appeal to especially to teen boys and those teens interested in WW II historical fiction.

Book details:

Domenic's War. A story of the Battle of Monte Cassino

Curtis Parkinson

2006 Tundra Books

191 pages

Silver Birch Awards Official Selection