Tuscan Rose

Summary (from the publisher): A mysterious stranger known as The Wolf leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child's identity...

Rosa's only family is the nuns who have raised her. When she turns fifteen, she must leave them and become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa - blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents - is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions. 

And all the while, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, and no citizen is safe. Rosa faces unimaginable hardship; her only weapons her intelligence, intuition, and determination...and her extraordinary capacity for love. 

An absorbing saga full of intrigue and heart, Tuscan Rose is for fans of such beloved bestsellers as The Thorn Birds, Corelli's Mandolin, and Sarah's Key. 

Review: I received an advance uncorrected proof of this book as a giveaway on Goodreads. 

Tuscan Rose follows the life of Rosa, who is raised by nuns and becomes a young woman in a country on the brink of war under the rule of Mussolini. The reader is drawn in to Rosa's life on two levels - in hopes of learning more about Rosa's past and family origins, and to learn about her fate and how she will survive once she is on her own and no longer under the protection of the nuns. 

I was surprised to learn that beyond Rosa's musical talents and skill with several languages, she also has a sort of sixth sense that allows her to see the origin of once living things. For example, when she sees a fur coat, she is able to "see" the animal that the fur came from. "She placed her spoon in the bowl and saw a school of anchovies swimming around it, flashing their silver bellies at her. The anchovies disappeared and a squid emerged from the bottom of the soup" (44). At one point in Rosa's tale, this skill also helps land her a job in a furniture store; "They are the very chairs in which Victor Emmanuel sat with his beloved daughter Maria Clotilde in 1858 when he told her that she must marry the repulsive Prince Napoleon" (65). It seemed an odd character trait, especially since it is the only supernatural-ish element of the book. 

However, my biggest disappointment with this book was the unconvincing plot. Although I enjoyed reading about Italy during World War II, I found the many transformations of Rosa difficult to believe. She's a governess, a prisoner, a musician, an unwed mother, a furniture seller, a nurse, and a member of the partisan uprising. Despite the tumult of war, I found it difficult to believe that one individual could excel at such a vast array of occupations. I especially found it difficult to believe that a penniless teenage unwed mother, just released from prison, would be able to turn her fortunes around and become a respectable and well-off wife and mother. 

Furthermore, the love triangle between Rosa, Luciano, and Antonio deeply aggravated me. Rosa, although supposedly deeply in love with Luciano, leaves him for Antonio because "Antonio could give her daughter a warm house and a good education. Ballet lessons, art lessons, beautiful clothes. It could all be hers. What could Rosa give her if she stayed with Luciano? Love alone could not have saved Sibilla from meningitis" (301). Years later, Rosa claims to deeply love Antonio and her family with him. Yet despite this, when the stars alone to bring Rosa and Luciano back together, she claims to love both men. "Yet her love for him did not diminish her love for Antonio, her husband the father of her children. She couldn't fight what she felt for either man. She accepted it as another contradiction in the woman she had become" (493). I was frustrated that Rosa does not display any guilt or conflict in her emotions in claiming to love two men. This lack of character development was displayed throughout, such as when Rosa does not display much distress at being separated from her young children for over a year.

Finally, I found the slow revelation of Rosa's origins implausible and far fetched. The whole family she supposedly originated from is filled with tales of betrayal, evil, and dark secrets. Rosa is never told the story of her birth, but slowly uncovers it due to scant clues, which I found insufficient, and a sort of intuition that tells her who her mother was. For example, she was given a key at birth and randomly discovers what it unlocks at a party. "Rosa was about to leave with them when a fancy seized her. She walked back to the stool. Her fingers reached for her throat. On an impulse, she took the chain from her neck and placed the silver key in the lock. With one turn the drawer opened" (323). 

This is a massive saga of a novel with dozens of plot twists. I did keep reading because I was curious to see where the story was going, but I was not impressed with the writing or believability of the plot. 

Stars: 3