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The Jewels of Paradise

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The Jewels of Paradise

By: Donna Leon
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
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About this listen

Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired by two competing cousins to find the truthful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in the composer’s two chests that have not been opened for centuries. As she delves into all quarters of his life, from professional to personal, she is drawn into one of the most scandalous affairs of the baroque era. When her research takes her in unexpected directions, she begins to wonder what dark secrets these chests hold and just whom can she trust?

©2012 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2012 Random House AudioGo Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction

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Critic reviews

"Donna Leon’s skill with intrigue, clues and suspicion and suspense means that even the most ardent Brunetti devotee ought to find this book a good read." (Jessica Mann, Literary Review )
“a splendid mystery surrounding the inheritance of an obscure baroque composer… Full of authentic details and wittily recounted (Caterina’s sojourn at a British university with its badly dressed scholars is a joy), Leon’s 22nd novel has a freshness which indicates her delight in the subject.” (Jane Jakeman, Independent)
“a fascinating study of greed, folly and how the most Machiavellian plots ultimately come to naught.” ( Guardian)
"Written with all Leon’s elegant delicacy combined with her ability to reveal the truth almost without your noticing, this is a little gem of a book, immersed as it is in Leon’s own love for the baroque." ( Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail)
"[it has] all the ingredients of a zippy historical mystery in an intriguing new genre…Leon seamlessly interweaves the Italian cultural heritage into her story, and hasn’t lost her feeling for everydaylife." ( The Spectator)
"Jewels of Paradise demonstrates the author’s deep understanding of Venice, and is an entertaining work that questions the changing values of life over the ages. Like life, it makes you wait to the end to understand the plot." (Selected by Lord Browne (former Chief Executive of BP) as his summer read in the Financial Times)
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An interesting story, if you are fond of the academic work of research. I enjoyed the knowledge and the history of religions and of historic power play. The descriptions of perceived menace was so well written, without being overdone. Familial and friendship networks were a bit understated, we understood that they were there, but the downsides were only implied. It was not quite enough for someone who doesn’t already understand it. The end was satisfying.

However, the progress of the story was very slow. I liked the audio, but was repeatedly frustrated by the slow pace and the excess of mundane details. This novel would benefit greatly from a thorough pruning and a different pitch. It reads like literary fiction with a mystery, and not a regular crime or mystery novel.

Interesting, but too slow, and not Brunetti.

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Donna Leon has pulled away from Commissario Brunetti to pastures new in terms of central characters ...with one exception Venice herself. as ever the city is beautifully described. This story does not quite come off but it is still well worth reading to the end.

For the love of Venice

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I have to agree with the reviewer who remarked "If you are drawn to this because you love the Brunetti stories, save your money. Read the back of the cornflakes packet instead." This is the only Donna Leon book I have struggled to finish - all her "Brunetti" novels were 5-star page-turners. This seemed to be going nowhere - at a snail's pace. As another reviewer remarks, the first 7 chapters can be summarised as "A woman applies for a job, and gets it". These chapters are completely irrelevant to the "plot". Skip them. Whereas I loved Leo's descriptions of Brunetti's Venice, the amount of (often extremely repetitive) detail devoted to the most mundane actions - positioning papers on a desk, unwrapping and eating a chocolate bar - were stultifying. Not only are the details dull but the characters never come to life. I ploughed on, hoping for a big revelation. Disappointingly, the denouement seemed to be merely a way for the author to end the tedium. The "surprise revelation" is delivered in the last few paragraphs and is probably mildly satisfying only to lovers of morality tales. I suppose I had been expecting a narrator similar to those of the Brunetti novels but (perhaps unfairly, by comparison) I did not enjoy the narrator's slightly drawling American accent which I found rather "preachy" in tone

VERY different from the Brunetti books!

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The narrator's Italian accent is unconvincing and detracts from the story. The story is an interesting history of a composer and his era. Surrounding this with a modern girl's return home to Venice didn't work for me. An unsatisfying ending.

Disappointed

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As a big fan of Donna Leon I have to say that I found this audiobook very disappointing. The plot moved along painfully slowly and then fizzled out completely. The use of Italian accents for all the characters by the narrator was irritating and unnecessary.

Disappointing

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I found this boring, not a patch on others by the same author, the narration didn't compare with the others either. It came across as either flat or forced.

Disappointing

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Interesting background and i formation about Venice but irritating in lack of story and character development. Not enough to believe in and sympathise with the characters. Also the story is slowed by excessive use of the Italian names, as if filling in for the lack of the above. Perhaps this might have been more successful in a different, more factual genre.

Not Brunetti!

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