Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) was an English poetess of Italian descent, and a member, with her two brothers, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Rossetti, of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement in art and literature. Many of her poems, including "Who Has Seen the Wind?", are familiar classics. Her only rival for fame and accomplishment among female English poets would be Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
In 1864, Christina and William, along with their mother, Frances, traveled to Italy. This novel is built around the author's imagination of the events of that trip, and also has an alternate timeline in 1947, when a fictional American clothing historian and war widow, Marianne Baxter, comes to Verona at the invitation of her old college friend Rufina. Marianne is to mount an exhibition of three dresses purported to have belonged to Rossetti which were found in a trunk in a hidden room in the (also fictional) Fondazione Museo Menigatti, located in a war-damaged palazzo.
Alessandro, the museum director, is both reluctant to have Marianne there and demands that she follow a number of "rules" that will make it difficult for her to do the work she has traveled from Boston to complete, but she is determined.
As Marianne works on the dresses, she uncovers mysterious notes and other items hidden inside the garments, and becomes caught up in why Christina placed them there. The alternating chapters on Christina and Marianne create a lushly romantic literary mystery that is eventually resolved by a most unexpected conclusion.
The author has clearly done her research on the works of Rossetti and what is known of her life, while creating a multi-layered characterization for her during her Italian sojourn. Her descriptions of the dresses, and the Veronese and other settings, during both timelines, are highly detailed and convincing, right down to the food eaten by the Rossettis and Marianne.
A very appealing work of historical fiction and mystery for those interested in literature, art, vintage textiles, and more.
