Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Drum roll: Rhys Bowen's THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK, one for the ages...

HALLIE EPHRON: Mystery, romance, World War II, and humor… that alchemical mix makes a Rhys Bowen novel and she’s done it again with The Venice Sketchbook, hot off the presses today.
BREAKING NEWS! The Venice Sketchbook just got a STARRED review in Library Journal!
We’re all thrilled, and the description has me chomping at the bit to read it:
Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than sixty years.

Irresistible… All I need to see is Venice and I’m hooked. I can’t wait to hear all about the book and how it came about. Rhys, for your loyal readers, what will feel familiar and what will feel new?

RHYS BOWEN: What I hope readers will enjoy in this book is the sense of place, being in Venice, experiencing so many aspects of the city. What might be different? It’s not a classic mystery, a crime and whodunnit.It takes place in three time periods, which is always a challenge to write. The mystery is a dying woman entrusting her great niece with three keys and a sketchbook of Venice and the layers of a hidden past being peeled away one by one.

HALLIE:
You’re an artist yourself. Do you take along a sketchbook with you when you travel? Did that factor into writing this book?

RHYS: I always take my sketch books when I travel and the publisher has actually used one of my sketches on the hardcover of the book. So I suppose I was drawn to a woman who was an artist and who captured her experiences in sketches. And when you are sketching you notice details. I take pictures of door knockers, for example, to paint later.

HALLIE: Venice! My favorite city in the world, by the way. Me and a gazillion other seasoned tourists. It’s a city that cherishes its history. You can research what it looked like in the 1940s by walking around there today… or can you? (We all know you’re a stickler for accuracy.)

RHYS:
My favorite city too. I have been there many times and every time it takes my breath away. I have a book of photographs comparing the same sites in 1900 and the present and really very little has changed, so I really could walk where my heroine walked and experience exactly what she saw.

Some businesses are still there—the bookshop in the street of the Assassins, Florian’s Tea Room, the Daniele of course, and the little shops that serves tramezzini—the small open sandwiches. I created a fictitious hotel for Juliet to stay in 1928 but it’s in a real place, and the hotel where Caroline stays in 2001 is where I love to stay—the Pensione Accademia with its lovely garden.But I actually did a lot of real research, including at the Correr Library, attached to the Correr museum in St. Mark’s Square.

Two librarians kept finding more and more books for me on Venice in the Thirties and Forties. They were all in Italian, of course, so my reading went rather slowly, but I got around this by finding the sections and pages I needed and having John photograph them for later study. The librarians were so enthusiastic that I had to say “Please, I think we have enough here!"

HALLIE: Still you had to go there for this book… didn’t you? How did that affect the story you had in mind to write?

RHYS:
Any excuse to go back to Venice! And I always have to revisit the place I’m writing about, just to notice what my heroine sees and smells and experiences. I was there for one of the big religious festivals and realized how important they still are to Venice so these festivals become important points in the story. Also I was over on the Lido (The island with lovely houses and hotels and the Venice beach and casino) and I spotted a villa I wanted to use. So then I decided it belonged to a Contessa, and she became an important character.


As far as plotting ahead was concerned, I knew my heroine had to survive but I had no idea what she would have to go through. It was really harrowing to write about!

HALLIE: I love the idea of a character unearthing secrets from the past. Did you know what Great-Aunt Lettie’s secrets were before you started writing, or did you unearth them as you went along?

RHYS: Not all. And I can’t tell you here or I’d spoil the story. I knew the main thrust but people along the way asked her to undertake certain dangerous things I hadn’t expected.

HALLIE:
What is it about World War II that has proven such fertile ground for your fiction?

RHYS: To me it is the last time when we had a sense of good versus evil. We knew we had to stop the evil before it swallowed the world. Everyone was involved, most wanting to do their part, others trying to profit and so many people not entirely evil or good. It was a time of heightened emotions, of great and small dangers and there are still so many stories waiting to be told.

I suppose I am so fascinated because I was born in the middle of it and my life was affected by it for years to come. I didn’t meet my father until I was three. He was out in Egypt and the Palestine. After the war it was common to see bombed buildings everywhere. Rationing went on until 1953. Of course the dangers were even greater in occupied Europe, which is why I’ve set two books there now. Ordinary people had to take extraordinary risks, putting their lives on the line, and often nobody knew about their bravery… as is the case with Juliet.

HALLIE: I love the way you write characters who are just on the outside, looking in. Fish trying to swim in waters that are just out of their league. Does that description fit Caroline as well?

RHYS: You’re right. I think my characters succeed because they are to a certain extent outsiders. Sometimes they are outside their own environment, like Juliet and Molly Murphy. Other times they don’t entirely fit in, like Lady Georgie who has a royal father and a lower class mother and thus feels herself slightly an outsider in both.

But such characters make great observers because everything is new to them and they have to be alert to survive. And Caroline—at the beginning of the story we might think she is living a normal, typical life: husband, child, job. But then this security is taken from her and it is only in Venice that she finds what she really wants.

HALLIE: Were you still writing this book when Covid hit? Did it make lockdown any easier, having such a fabulous fictional place to go via your manuscript?

RHYS: I must admit I gazed at my photographs so many times, usually with a sigh. Especially the videos and live shots. There is one taken from a motor boat when the bells are ringing. That always brought tears to my eyes. Bells are so typical of Venice. It should have been a gift to be able to focus and write without interruptions but in fact I found it hard to be creative. Having this worry always lurking in the background was like carrying a load on my shoulders, and thinking through muslin. I expect you felt the same way.

Luckily I had written half the book before lock down so I knew where I was going. And of course having a deadline is a great motivator!

HALLIE:
Where can your fans find you to hear firsthand about this fabulous new book?

RHYS: I have already done most of my Zooms and interviews by the time the book is published but fans can visit the Poisoned Pen archives to see my interview with Barbara from last Saturday. Hank and I are chatting tomorrow, April 14, at Authors on the Air. I don’t have the link yet but will put it on my Facebook page. And next Sunday, April 18, I am doing a Facebook Live Zoom chat with Cara Black at Book Passage (bookpassage.com) at 4 p.m. I hope to see some of you there.

And thank you for hosting me, Hallie, and for all the wonderful support I feel from the Jungle Reds and our community.

HALLIE:
I confess, if I I were traveling to Venice for "research" my sketchbook would be "scratch and sniff." Because the food! But also the light. The reflections. But capturing the excitement of meandering down a little side alley and emerging into one of Venice's gorgeous squares? For all that and more, read The Venice Sketchbook. 

Do you keep a travel journey or sketchbook?

41 comments:

  1. Happy book birthday, Rhys . . . congratulations on your new book.

    This is such a wonderful introduction to “The Venice Sketchbook” . . . thank you, Hallie and Rhys, for a most interesting interview. I’m really looking forward to reading the book . . . .

    The sketch in the book is lovely, Rhys . . . it looks so inviting --- I’d love to simply wander in . . . .

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  2. Julie is going to be over the moon when she sees what's landed on her Kindle this morning. She's been to Venice, but I haven't. It's on my bucket list of course.

    Since I've only been outside in the last two months to go to the hospital, I shall go to Venice via Rhys's new book later today.

    Congratulations! And thank you.

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  3. Thank you, Rhys, for yet another opportunity to travel abroad and across time without leaving my humble homestead.

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  4. Hallie, and Rhys, thank-you for the great interview to begin my day. I do believe that The Venice Sketchbook is already in my Kindle!

    Rhys, the sketches you have shared with us are beautiful and I love your books and the characters you create. I do not tire of stories set during WWII, there are many remaining to be told.

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  5. Congratulations Rhys for The Venice Sketchbook. I’m looking forward to immerse myself in this book and to visit Venice through your eyes.

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  6. Congratulations, Rhys- I can't wait to read this book! I don't sketch much, but I always bring a travel notebook for ideas and thoughts.

    Excellent interview, Hallie.

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  7. RHYS: Congratulations on the release of The Venice Sketchbook. Armchair travelling to such a beautiful locale seems like what I need while in another lockdown here in Ottawa.

    Me, I can't draw to save my life, ha ha. But since the early 2000s, I have written a travel journal on any long trip. Since the daily itinerary on these trips are mostly unplanned, I kept the travel journal to remember the places I visited and to document the yummy FOOD I enjoyed eating!

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    1. Oh Grace, my sympathies for another lockdown. Here in Arizona everything is pretty much back to normal

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  8. Happy Book Birthday Rhys! And Hallie, wonderful interview! I loved this book and know you all will too...

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  9. Finally!! Yay, Rhys! Venice has always been on my bucket list. And one of my favorite Helen MacInnes' books is The Venetian Affair. And I adore your cover, can't wait to read this book! When I travel, I keep a journal, but if a place, an experience affects me deeply--I write poetry.

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  10. Congratulations! I cant' wait to return to Venice, first via your book and then in person.

    I take lots of photos when I travel, including shops with beautiful displays of fresh fish or fruit.

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    1. Yes—it’s the everyday life details that are special!

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  11. Happy book birthday, Rhys, and thank you for the vicarious trip to Venice.

    I take tons of photographs, keep a journal and try - abysmally - to sketch. I took up the journal idea after reading a quote by MM Kaye that when she was ready to write - I think it was The Far Pavilions - she re-read her diaries from her time in India and all the detail was there, right down to the advertising placards in the train station. That prompted me to pay attention to detail. Now, if I could only consistently read my own handwriting!

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    1. My handwriting is indecipherable, too... so nice to hear I'm not the only one. My husband has written in a travel journal ever since our earliest trips decades ago. This is inspiring me to dig it out and see what he wrote.

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    2. Also guilty of awful handwriting, Kait
      Sometimes I wake in the night with an idea. Jot it down and then can’t read what I wrote

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  12. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but I can't wait to read this book. Congratulations, Rhys!

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  13. Congratulations on today's release, Rhys! This book/story sounds intriguing, and your sketch is lovely. I'm off to find the book for my TBR...

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  14. Rhys! Endless endless endless congratulations! You know I am such a fan! And looking forward to our talk tomorrow. And put me on the indecipherable handwriting list, too. And the “no drawing skills whatsoever” list as well. But I am definitely on the “Rhys is queen of us all” list — I am constantly in awe.

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    1. Ah, but you have skills I’ll never have like walking in high heels without breaking an ankle and doing scary undercover assignments!

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  15. Congratulations! I am so excited. My copy arrived on my Kindle this morning! It will have to wait for a little while as I am in the middle of Key West and food currently. Haha

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  16. Rhys, happy publication day! Venice is my favorite city in Italy. Love the names you picked for your characters ....Caroline Grant...Daisy Browning... I look forward to reading the Venice Sketchbook.

    Yes, I brought a sketchbook with me when I travelled to England. I remember visiting a National Trust country house and when I was walking around the grounds, I saw the place where Winston Churchill proposed to Clementine. I sketched the place.

    And I love to collect postcards when I travel.

    Diana

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  17. Such an exciting day. Congratulations, Rhys! You get extra credit for finishing this book in a global pandemic, for sure. It will be great to go back to Venice, such an amazing city.

    The most success I ever had with keeping a travel journal was when we went to Tanzania. My daughters had given me the most beautiful handmade leatherbound travel journal, and I felt compelled to keep it up. There are lots of lists in it: Swahili words and phrases, birds we saw, mammals we saw. I had great intentions to draw, too, but the only pictures I managed were one of my 1 1/2 pieces of luggage, vs. Steve's 4 1/2 pieces, and a sketch of our guide's awesome hat he wore. I took lots of photos, instead.

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  18. Like Karen, my most successful travel journal was on safari. Ross and i got to go on a trip of a lifetime back in '98 with his father - South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Okavanga Delta in Botswana. I wrote every evening, and I'm so glad I did, because it was an amazing trip, and unlike any other journey I've taken before or since.

    Also, I have to tell everyone I'm in the middle of THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK right now, and it's terrific! I'm having a hard time flipping to the back to see how everything turns out, but so far I've been able to resist.

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    1. Africa inspires, doesn't it? Our daughter in Kenya so wants us to come and visit.

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  19. Congrats,Rhys! My Kindle edition has arrived. BTW, re: tourists & Venice, Barbara Peters spoke with Donna Leon last week and Donna said she left Venice 10-12 years ago because the tourists overwhelmed her. It's one of the reasons I choose to drop deep into the English countryside when I travel rather than be one of the hoard on the streets of London.

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    1. The interesting thing with Venice is there are still parts where the tourists don’t go and you can sit outside at a tiny restaurant

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    2. That's true of London as well. If you get far enough off the tourist track there are lovely neighborhoods to be discovered!

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  20. Rhys and Hallie, what a wonderful interview! It has made me want to go back and read this book again. There is such lovely detail--you really did a marvelous job of bringing the city to life in the three different time periods. I'd say your travel journal stood you in good stead!

    As for the travel journals, I always have good intentions, but the results are spotty.

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  21. I cannot wait to read this book, Rhys! I love multiple timelines. As for travel journals, I have tried on my earlier foreign trips, but I never made it past four days before I quit writing. It's fun to go back and read what I wrote in Ireland or Costa Rica, but writing is such a chore to me. And those journals rarely see the light of day!

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  22. Rhys, can you speak to how not to get lost in Venice? If my daughter hadn't used GPS while we were there together I might still be stuck in some blind canyon there!

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    1. The last time I was there they had actually put up signs to st Marks, Rialto, Train Station. Otherwise it’s crazy. Streets can have different names on either side?

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  23. Happy book birthday, Rhys. I’m up to 1938 Venice so far. I can’t put it down. The audio narration is wonderful.

    I spent the summer in Europe in 1969. I had just graduated from high school and this was ostensibly a “comparative cultures” study group. I kept a journal and now, 50+ years later, I’m so glad I spent those daily minutes writing notes.

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  24. Congratulations, Rhys!!! This is such a fabulous book. I simply loved it. And I am definitely going to keep a travel journal if I ever get to the Continent again.

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  25. Wonderful! I’ve ordered it, and it can’t get here soon enough. A new book by Rhys is always a cause for celebration.

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  26. Rhys- I reviewed it for NetGalley and one my Blog and mentioned it yesterday to my library Book Club
    I'll get it on B&N and Amazon now: https://myainbookblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-venice-sketchbook-rhys-bowen.html

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