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The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods

I bought this book when it first came out and have had it sitting on my Kindle as a reward to read over the holidays. And what a reward it was! I read it in one sitting, unable to tear myself away from the tale. The fact it was set over the Christmas period – from Christmas Day to Twelfth Night, was a serendipitous bonus. 

As the title indicates, the book is set in modern day Venice and a popular gastronomic hotel run by a famous “celebrity” chef, the beautiful Signora Loretta Bianchi (think Nigella Lawson only better – if that’s possible). It’s within the hotel that the lives of four very different women intersect: passionate, competent Loretta; Australian Sophie who writes for a popular food magazine, Venetian Elena who returns with her Australian doctor husband for her father’s funeral, and the devout and devoted American, Gaye. Each of the women carries a secret – some darker than others; each of them have stifled their dreams and longings, swallowed their fears, their sense of what is right; allowed other’s prejudices to inform their behaviour. Some have lost themselves in the pursuit of others’ dreams or through coercive control. At the Venice Hotel, each of the women will be forced to make a choice that will be life-changing. 

Told from their four different points of view, each of the women’s histories and present unfold. While it is easy to judge the women on first impressions (just as we do others in real life), what I loved about this book is the way these impressions alter as more of their past, their relationships with each other, the Venetians, and Venice itself come to the fore. The reader comes to know, love and even better, understand these women – the choices they have made, the ones they are about to, and we champion them. 

What is also marvellous is the politics of Venice that underpin the story – the damage being wrought up on the city, its population and economy by the encroaching sea but also by the tourists and their monstrous cruise ships and indifference to the beauty of the place. It’s as if so many forget this is a lived-in city, populated with real people and families, rich in history. We are given the positives and negatives of the politics, fears for the future of the beautiful city, the protests and the reasons underpinning these. If anyone has been to Venice, you’ll really appreciate how it too becomes a character in the book. If you haven’t, you’ll want to go there, only not by cruise ship! 

I loved this book – the ease with which I read it and how immersive it was. I didn’t want to leave The Venice Hotel and I think it won’t be long before I return – sadly, it can only be for a re-read. 

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