Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Bianca Capello is a beautiful, independent, and headstrong young Venetian woman with a mind of her own – and her mind does not intend to marry the old man her father has picked for her. With the audacity of youth and not caring about what tomorrow might bring, Bianca runs off with a young Florentine clerk named Pietro and marries him – shocking Venice and her family. Well, maybe not everyone is shocked.

Marco Capello is Bianca’s cousin and has entertained thoughts of perhaps marrying his beautiful relative himself. He knows Bianca well and is not really surprised by her impetuous actions. A sailor by trade, he soon finds himself in the middle of a war with the Turks where he brings glory to his family and his city.

Robert Elegant’s story of Renaissance Italy largely alternates between Bianca and Marco’s stories. Bianca finds the life of a poor nobleman in Florence not nearly as glamorous or easy as she thought it would be and it is made worse when she discovers her husband is nothing but a con man. When Pietro suggests that she find a wealthy man to share her favors with in order to finance his latest scheme, Bianca is initially disgusted. But upon further consideration she decides there is some merit in Pietro’s idea (although she will be the primary beneficiary of the arrangement) and she sets her sights on none other than Francesco de Medici, son of the current duke. It is an easy conquest and soon Bianca is at the center of another scandal as Francesco’s mistress.

As Bianca lives the good life with Francesco (but hated by the people of Florence), Marco has gone on with his own life and found himself a wife and the four of them will ultimately come together in a way and for a purpose none of them could have expected. Although Bianca and Marco’s paths cross during several points in the book, I found Marco’s story pretty boring and really didn’t see what his adventures on the high seas had to do with anything. I suppose it provided some political context of the times and it helps set up the storyline where Marco will help Bianca solve her greatest challenge. I found myself sometimes skimming through it though.

Bianca is a character that is hard to like – she is vain and often quite selfish - but I enjoyed her story a great deal. Once Francesco was introduced into the story I looked him up on the internet and realized that Bianca was in fact a real person (I had not known that when I started the book) and that much of the basic storyline was true. Overall, it was an entertaining story but many of the sections concerning Marco bogged it down a bit.

Rating: Average (2.5 stars)