About this item
The highly anticipated new standalone novel from Martin Cruz Smith, whom The Washington Post has declared "that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction," The Girl from Venice is a suspenseful World War II love story set against the beauty, mystery, and danger of occupied Venice.Venice, 1945. The war may be waning, but the city known as La Serenissima is still occupied and the people of Italy fear the power of the Third Reich. One night, under a canopy of stars, a fisherman named Cenzo comes across a young womans body floating in the lagoon and soon discovers that she is still alive and in trouble. Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Giulia is on the run from the Wehrmacht SS. Cenzo chooses to protect Giulia rather than hand her over to the Nazis. This act of kindness leads them into the world of Partisans, random executions, the arts of forgery and high explosives, Mussolinis broken promises, the black market and gold, and, everywhere, the enigmatic maze of the Venice Lagoon. The Girl from Venice is a thriller, a mystery, and a retelling of Italian history that will take your breath away. Most of all it is a love story.
About the Author
Martin Cruz Smith (born Martin William Smith) , American novelist, received his BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He worked as a journalist from 1965 to 1969 before turning his hand to fiction. His first mystery ( - 1971) features NY gypsy art dealer Roman Grey and was nominated for an Edgar Award. was his breakthrough novel and was made into a movie. Smith is best known for his series of novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko. , published in 1981, was the first of these and was called "thriller of the '80s" by Time Magazine. It became a bestseller and won the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers' Association. Renko has also appeared in , and In the 1970s, Smith wrote under the pseudonym and penned two Slocum adult action westerns as . He also wrote the under the alias with and others. Martin Cruz Smith now lives in San Rafael, California with his wife and three children.
