Juliet: A Novel by Anne Fortier
Review by R E K. (bigstone)
Recently I read Romeo and Juliet for the first time. I loved Shakespeare’s famous love story. How would I feel about Anne Fortier’s Juliet? Very good, I found.
Julie and Janice Jacobs are twins whose parents died in an automobile accident in Italy. They live with an aunt in the United States. However, their personalities are different. Janice is outgoing, self-centered, and seeks attention in whatever way she can get it. Julie is an introvert who is sensitive and insecure, and hides her personality beneath her appearance. While Janice is stylish and well groomed, Julie wears baggy and drab clothes with comfortable boots or shoes.
With the death of the aunt, Janice is left with her property whereas Julie receives only a key to a safe deposit box in Siena, Italy. Janice is gleeful. Julie is resentful. Nevertheless, Julie heads for Italy to see what might be in this safe deposit box. Arriving clad in baggy shorts and flip flops she discovers her luggage has been routed elsewhere. Eva Maria Salimbeni, a wealthy Italian whom she met on the plane, takes her in tow and lends clothing until her own can arrive. Through Eva Maria Julie meets Alessandro, her godson and a policeman.
Uh, oh! Julie remembers that she was kicked out of Italy and warned never to return! Now, however, she is using her Italian name, Giulirtta Tolomei, so he may not discover that she is Julie Jacobs who was barred from Italy. After all she is just here to discover the safety deposit box and learn more about her parents.
Julie is joined by her sister Janice. (Janice discovered that the aunt had so many debts that once paid nothing remained of her inheritance so she wants to share Julie’s treasure.) The treasure consists of letters, pictures and piecing together the past which convinces the twins that their parents were murdered. As they delve the past in more depth they discover much about life in Siena and the families who lived there, a part of which describes a love affair that their mother was convinced was the original Romeo and Juliet and that Juliet was an ancestor. Furthermore, they discover generation after generation of feuding between families, with the Salimbeni family at the heart. and a curse has been placed on Tolomei family that can only be removed when Romeo and Juliet are reunited. In spite of her fears about the Salimbeni family, Julie finds herself falling in love with the handsome Alessandro Salimbeni.
The story is far more complex than the original Romeo and Juliet but follows the same plot. It vacillates between the past and the present but I prefer to think that the past is a manifestation of Julie’s lively imagination. She has long been fascinated by Shakespeare and especially the tale of Romeo and Juliet. And, as she, too, finds herself falling in love the tale only becomes more realistic to her.
The twins do discover a treasure – a statue of the original lovers with embedded precious jewels buried beneath the streets of Siena. However, gangsters capture the twins and the Italian housekeeper who had lived with them in America to locate the statue. Why he joins them is another twist in the story. While I found the gangster involvement difficult to accept, I, nevertheless, enjoyed this convoluted love story as written and well worth the time I spent with Julie and Janice. And, at times the story rambles with little purpose but in spite of its flaws I recommend that those who enjoy a bit of mystery coupled with a little romance take time to read Juliet.
I read this when it first came out for Amazon Vine. It didn’t exactly rock my world. Can’t remember specifically why though.
I just recently read this book. While it is a far fetched “version” of Romeo and Juliet, I thought it was a very good story. I agree that sometimes the “gangster” involvement was a little hard to accept in the book, I can understand why the author felt they needed to be in it. All in all it was a very good love story if you ask me plus a little bit of a mystery! 🙂 I would definitely suggest this book.