A Tale of More Woe

When any book starts with the line "They say that I died," you know it's going to be a good book.  That's the first line from Juliet by Anne Fortier.  And no, before you start rolling  your eyes, this is not a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from Juliet's point of view.  It has similarities and it mentions the play, but this is a very different book.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is much older than William Shakespeare.  There are tales of forbidden love going back centuries, but this particular story traces back to the fourteenth century, and Siena rather than Verona.  Part of Fortier's novel is her depiction of the old tale; the "original."  There are two dueling families, the Tolomeis and the Salimbenis, but Romeo belongs to neither family.  He is a Marescotti and he saves Gulietta Tolomei from Salimbeni cutthroats.  She is, at the time, playing dead and trying to safely make it to her uncle's home after her family is slaughtered by Salimbenis.  Romeo sees her "corpse" and falls in love with her beauty.  She in turn, falls for him but begs revenge against Salimbeni.  Later she comes to her senses and tells Romeo that he doesn't have to kill Salimbeni to claim her.  She loves him as she is.  However, Gulietta's uncle has a different solution for the feud:  He's going to marry Gulietta to Salimbeni.  Needless to say, Gulietta is not okay with this situation.  I don't want to give away the end of the original sotry.

In the modern day, the main character is another Gulietta Tolomei, but she was raised as Julie Jacobs, not knowing who she was, for her own safety.  When her beloved Aunt Rose dies and seemingly leaves everything to Julie's obnoxious twin, Janice (who is really Gianozza Tolomei, just as the original Gulietta had a twin), Julie heads off to Siena to find a treasure that her mother left for her.  There, Gulietta runs into all kinds of crazy.  On the plane she meets Eva Maria Salimbeni who turns into a bit of a fairy godmother for Gulietta.  Once landed in Siena, Eva Maria introduces Gulietta to her godson, Alessandro Santini.  In the search for the treasure that her mother left, Gulietta learns the history of Siena and it's contrada, the history of her family, and the truth of Romeo and Guiletta until, buried under Siena, she comes face to face with the truth of the story.

I will be the first to admit that I have a problem with Shakespeare's play.  Many people talk about the play as an epic love story.  It's the story of two teenagers who couldn't control themselves and caused the deaths of, if I remember correctly, six people in less than a week.  How is that an epic love story at all?  It's insane!  But the way the story is presented by Fortier is not only a bit more believable but a beautiful representation of love, loyalty, betrayal, and truth. 

In a series of reading group questions that I found, I found one question that stuck out to me.  Once she learns of it, modern day Guiletta seems be believe in the curse set by her ancestors.  Was there actually a curse, or did all the parties involved simply believe that they were cursed?  It's not really clear either way, but it speaks of the power of belief.  A technique that I use all the time when I tutor is telling my students to tell themselves that they are going to have a good day, particularly when they come in in a bad mood.  Within ten minutes, they're smiling and happy.  Belief is an incredible thing.

Anyway.  I would really suggest this book whether or not you actually like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  While there is a love story in the book, it's much much more of an adventure story than a romance.  There's also a mystery in the hunt for Juliet's Eyes.  Will Gulietta and her Romeo finally get a happy ending?

I've also included a gorgeous picture of Siena because why not?  Go visit!